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Hamilton,  Walter,  loM-1899 
The  aesthetic  movement  in 
England ♦ 

3d  ed. 


THE 


ESTHETIC    MOVEMENT 


IN   ENGLAND. 


BY 


WALTER    HAMILTON, 

fellow  of  the  R0jal  Geographical  and  Roy  ml  Historical  Societies  ; 
Author  of  "  7 Me  Poets  Lemremte  0/  England."     "A  History  0/  National  A  nthems  1 
Patriotic  Songs?  "A  Memoir  of  George  CrmksAanh,"  A»r . 


«#« 


"  Haw  you  not  heard 
Vint,  few  m  heed  it ;  seat, 
it    — d  the  came  «  woo." 


how  it  has  f  one 


with  many  a  cause  before  now? 
contemn  h  ;  lastly,  all  men  accept 


William  Momus. 


THIRD     EDITION. 


LONDON: 
BEEVES  *  TURNER,  too.  STRAND.  LONDON,  w c 

Mpcccuunui. 


101 


y 


PREFACE  f 0   >FJIE   WW   EDIf I0N. 


Thij  agreeable  duty  of  preparing  a  new  edition  of  this  little  work 
(which  has  met  with  support  and  approval  beyond  its  merits  and 
my  expectations),  has  been  rendered  doubly  pleasurable  from  the 
kind  assistance  which  has  been  voluntarily  tendered  by  many 
gentlemen  whose  names  are  prominently  connected  with  the 
movement  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe. 

In  dealing  (however  superficially),  with  the  lives  and  works  of 
many  eminent  men  now  living,  or  but  recently  passed  away,  a  few 
errors  in  facts  or  dates  were  inevitable  ;  these  have  been  corrected 
with  the  utmost  care.  The  chapter  on  the  late  Dante  Gabriel 
Kossetti  has  been  rendered  much  more  complete  by  the  inser- 
tion of  interesting  information  kimlly  supplied  me  by  his  brother, 
Mr.  William  Michael  Rossetti ;  and  I  have  also  borrowed  a  few 
notes  from  Mr.  T.  Hall  Caine's  Reminiscences  of  Dante  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  a  work  which  I  can  heartily  commend  to  all. who  take  an 
^  interest  in  the  career  of  that  singular  man  of  genius,  and  the  great 

artistic  movement  he  originated. 

The  Earl  of  Southesk  has  favoured  me  with  some  notes  about 
bis  curious  poem,  Jonas  Fisher ;  and  to  Lady  "Wilde  I  am  greatly 
indebted  for  the  very  complete  account  I  am  enabled  to  offer  of  the 
career  of  her  son,  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde,  about  whom,  at  present,  con- 
siderable curiosity  exists,  both  at  home  and  in  the  United  States. 

For  other  valuable  assistance  I  beg  to  offer  my  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments to  the   Rev.  T.  W.  Carson,  of  Dublin ;    Mr.  F.  W. 
.  Crawford ;    and  Mr.  Jonathan  Carr,  of  Bedford  Park.     Nor  has 

their  friendly  assistance  benefited  me  only,  it  has  enabled  me  to 
oiler  the  public  a  more  complete,  and  more  authentic  account  of  the 
./Esthetic  Movement  than  has  yet  been  written,  and  to  correct 
many  misapprehensions  which  have  existed  concerning  its  origin 
and  its  aims. 

I  have  used  the  title  JEsiheiic  Movement,  little  aa  I  like  it,  be- 
cause it  is  generally  accepted  and  understood,  although  it  incorrectly 
describes  what  might  be  more  correctly  styled,  a  Renaissance  of 
Mediaeval  Art  and  Culture. 

WALTER  HAMILTON. 

•4,  BaoMFKLDK  Road,  Clamum, 

L05D05. 


e 


CONTENTS 


THS  PRE-RAPHAELITES     1 

The  Germ • 

Jons   Ruskin         M 

The  Grosvenor  Gallery        —  23 

.Esthetic  Culture        31 

Poets  of  the  .Esthetic  School- 
Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti         41 

Buchanan's  Attack  on  Rossetti        51 

William  Michael  Rossetti 65 

Thomas  Woolner  57 

William  Morels  ...        58 

Algernon  Charles  Swinbubne         61 

Artuub  W.  £.  O'Shaucunessy  69 

Jonas  Flsiier  :  a  Poem  in  Brown  and  White,  and 

Mr.  Robebt  Buchanan 70 

Punch's  Attacks  on  the  .Esthetes 82 

Mr.  Oscab  Wilde  95 

A  Home  for  the  .Esthetes 125 

Conclusion ...        .«        137 


iNfftsDacfieff. 


SHORT  time  since  two  very  favourite  theatres  were 
drawing  large  audiences  to  witness,  in  the  one  case 
a  comic  opera,  in  the  other  a  comedy,  written  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  ridiculing  a  certain  school, 
known  as  the  ^Esthetic. 

Satire  and  ridicule  are  legitimate  weapons  when 
directed  against  shams,  hypocrisy,  or  any  other  species  of  humbug, 
and  dramatists  or  the  comic  journals  simply  perform  a  public  duty  by 
pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  at  anything  that  is  false,  or  ignoble.  Lut 
of  all  the  thousands  who  crowded  to  see  Patience  and  TJie  Colonel, 
how  few  there  were  who  carried  away  any  distinct  idea  of  the 
actual  meaning  of  the  satires  they  contained  ;  or  who  could  form  any 
clear  opinion  as  to  whether  the  class  of  persons  therein  held  up  to 
ridicule  were  actually  existing  literary  and  artistic  men,  or  simply 
the  creations  of  the  fertile  pens  of  a  couple  of  dramatists,  who  had 
taken  hints  from  a  journal  which  Lad,  at  one  time,  some  claim  to 
.  the  title  of  a  comic  paper. 

But  supposing  a  small  percentage  of  the  theatre-goers  to 
have  traced  a  resemblance  between  the  dramatic  characters  and  the 
Maudles,  Postlethwaites  and  Company,  of  the  aforesaid  comic 
paper,  the  question  would  still  arise,  as  to  whether  Maudle,  Postle- 
thwaite  and  Company  were  purely  imaginary  individuals,  or  were 
living  and  walking  in  our  midst,  and  so  grossly  deceiving  the  world 
with  sham  Art,  Poetry,  and  Criticism,  as  to  deserve  to  be  subjected 
to  the  scorn  and  derision  of  all  people  of  intellect  and  education,  and 


vi.  Introduction. 

to  find  their  pictures,  poems,  and  essays  laughed  oat  of  the  market, 
and  themselves  reduced  to  live  in  the  unromantic  humdrum  manner 
of  ordinary  civilized  beings. 

But  the  fact  is,  that  Maudle  and  Company,  as  portrayed,  were 
not  altogether  imaginary  individuals,  but  belonged  to  a  comparatively 
new  school,  which  has  done,  ana  is  still  doing,  an  immense  amount 
of  good  towards  the  advancement  of  Art  in  this  country  and  in 
America.  That  there  are  persons  of  .Esthetic  tastes  who  carry  them 
to  the  borders  of  absurdity  goes  without  saying ;  every  movement 
in  intellectual,  or  political,  life  has  its  over-enthusiastic  apostles, 
who  damage  the  cause  they  have  at  heart ;  but  that  there  must  be 
tome  good  iu  the  movement  is  clearly  shown  by  its  having  earned 
the  abuse  of  a  journal  which  never  has  a  generous  word  to  say  for 
any  one  beyond  its  own  immediate  and  narrow  circle.  However, 
the  so-called  .-Esthetic  school  has  now  been  in  existence  some  years, 
and  is  likely  to  survive  the  attacks  which  a  portion  of  the  press 
levels  at  it,  the  more  so  because  by  far  the  greater  number  of  its 
assailants  neither  study  its  works,  understand  its  aims,  nor  appre- 
ciate the  undoubted  good  it  has  wrought. 

What  then,  is  this  School, — what  are  its  aims, — and  what  has  it 
achieved  ?  , 

The  term  JEdketic  is  derived  from  the  Greek,  aisthesis,  signi- 
fying perception,  or  the  science  of  the  beautiful,  especially  in  art, 
and  the  designation  has  long  been  applied  by  German  writers 
to  a  branch  of  philosophical  enquiry  into  the  theory  of  the  beauti- 
ful, or  more  accurately,  into  the  philosophy  of  poetry  and  the  fine 
arts.  The  term  appears  to  have  been  invented,  or  adopted,  by 
Baumgarten,  a  Geruian  Philosopher,  whose  work  entitled  ^Esthetica 
was  published  in  1750. 

A  great  literary  controversy  has  been  going  on  in  Germany  for  a 
century  and  a-half,  the  chief  topic  in  dispute  being  the  question  as 
to  whether  an  object  is  actually  beautiful  in  itself,  or  merely 
appears  so  to  certain  }>ersous  having  faculties  capable  of  appreciating 
thai  which  is  positively  beautiful. 

From  this  dispute  came  the  origin  of  the  school,  and  the  jEtthctts 


INTRODUCTION.  Til. 

are  they  who  pride  themselves  upon  having  found  out  what  is  the 
really  beautiful  in  nature  and  art,  their  faculties  and  tastes  being 
educated  up  to  the  point  necessary  for  the  full  appreciation  of  such 
qualities ;  whilst  those  who  do  not  see  the  true  and  the  beautiful — 
the  outsiders  in  fact — are  termed  Philistines. 

Now  up  to  a  certain  point,  the  theory  that  beauty  is  apparent 
only  to  some,  is  perfectly  sound,  for  most  persons  will  agree  with 
Kant,  that  there  can  be  no  strict  mathematical  definition,  or  science 
of  beauty  iu  nature,  art,  poetry  or  music,  inasmuch  as  beauty  is  not 
altogether  a  property  of  objects  or  sounds,  but  is  relative  to  the  _ 
tastes  and  faculties  brought  to  bear  upon  them. 

Illustrations  of  the  truth  of  this  axiom  will  occur  to  every  one  ; 
it  is  founded  upon  the  old  old  truism,  tastes  differ.  The  ^Esthetes 
recognise  this  truth  to  the  fullest  extent,  but  having  first 
laid  down  certain  general  principles,  they  have  endeavoured  to 
elevate  taste  into  a  scientific  system,  the  correlation  of  the  arts  being 
a  main  feature  of  the  scheme  ;  they  even  go  so  far  as  to  decide 
what  shall  be  considered  beautiful,  and  those  who  do  not  accept  their 
ruling  are  termed  Philistines,  and  there  is  no  hope  for  them. 

Hence,  the  essence  of  the  movement  is  the  union  of  persons  of 
cultivated  tastes  to  define,  and  to  decide  upon,  what  is  to  be 
admired,  and  their  followers  must  aspire  to  that  standard  in  their 
works  and  lives.  Vulgarity,  however  wealthy  it  may  be,  can  never 
be  admitted  into  this  exclusive  brotherhood,  for  riches  without 
taste  are  of  no  avail,  whilst  taste  without  money,  or  with  very 
little,  can  always  effect  much.  So  also  those  who  prate  most  of 
jEstheticism  are  often  those  who  have  least  of  it  to  show  in  their 
houses,  furniture,  dress,  or  literary  culture. 

It  has  been  insinuated  that  the  school  has  no  existence,  save  in 
the  brain  of  M.  Du  Maurier,  or  that  if  it  existed,  it  was  yet  merely 
a  very  insignificant  clique  of  nobodies,  whose  vanity  was  gratified 
by  the  attention  thus  called  to  them,  and  to  their  paltry  works. 
But  the  achool  does  exist,  and  its  leaders  are  men  of  mark,  who 
have  long  been  at  work  educating  public  taste,  hence  Punch  found 
it  to  its  interest  to  ridicule  it,  and  parody  its  works ;  when  the 


viil.  INTRODUCTION. 

topic  wis  worn  th  read  bare  in  its  pages,  the  editor  appropriated  a 
plot  from  a  French  play,  took  his  situations  from  an  old  comedy 
called  The  Serious  Family,  worked  in  the  stale  jokes  of  his  journal, 
and  so  produced  his  new,  original,  and  most  successful  Colonel. 

For  more  than  twelve  months  this  rechauffe  drew  crowded  houses, 
hut  in  the  height  of  its  much  advertised  successful  career,  it  was 
taken  off  the  hoards,  somewhat  suddenly  and  inexplicably,  a  few 
days  after  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  in  which 
its  origin  was  distinctly  traced,  and  its  animus  explained. 

It  was  certainly  a  laughable  and  most  amusing  production ;  but 
neither  for  art  nor  originality  would  it  bear  comparison  with 
Gilbert  and  Sullivan's  delightful  Patience,  or  Bunthorne's  Bride, 
which  was  first  produced  at  the  Opera  Comique,  London,  on 
Saturday,  2 3rd  April,  1881  (although  it  was  stated  that  the  libretto 
of  the  opera  was  completed  in  the  November  preceding,  some  time 
before  the  production  of  T7ie  Colonel),  and  played  continuously 
until  the  22nd  November,  1882. 

By  means,  then,  of  these  two  plays,  the  Philistines  were  afforded 
a  glimpse  behind  the  scenes,  so  to  speak,  of  .Esthetic  life,  and  had 
placed  before  them,  in  a  highly-spiced  and  dangerously  exaggerated 
form,  the  manners  and  customs  of  a  very  exclusive  section  of 
society,  of  whose  very  existence  only  a  vague  and  uncertain  idea 
had  previously  been  formed. 

Suppose,  then,  as  it  is  a  matter  of  curious  philosophical  interest, 
that  we  take  a  few  steps  back  into  the  past,  to  discover  the  origin 
of  the  ^Esthetic  movement,  note  the  characteristics  of  its  founders 
and  their  principal  followers,  the  development  of  the  school,  and 
the  influence  it  has  exercised  over  modern  art  and  poetry. 


TPE    PRE-R7IPfl7IEItI'FES 


N  the  year  1848  there  were  studying  together  in^the-art 
school  of  the  Royal  Academy,  four  very  young  men, 
namely,  Holman  Hunt,  John  Everett  Millais,  Dante 
Gabriel  Rossetti, and  Thomas  Woolner,  the  first  three 
being  painters,  the  last  a  sculptor.  Associated  with 
these  aitists  were  two  young  literary  men,  William 
Michael  Rossetti  and  F.  G.  Stephens,  both  art  critics,  and  the  late 
Mr.  James  Collinson.  This  small  band  of  seven  constituted  the 
Pre-Raphaelite  brotherhood.  Endowed  with  great  originality  of 
genius,  combined  with  remarkable  industry,  they  formed  amongst 
themselves  the  daring  project  of  introducing  a  revolution  into  the 
art*  of  poetry,  painting  and  sculpture,  as  then  practised  in  England. 
Hut  1848  was  fertile  in  Revolutions  ! 

These  youths  were  enthusiastic  in  their  admiration  of  early 
Italian  art  and  the  mediaeval  Pre-Raphaelite  painters,  and  they 
christened  themselves  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood.  In  the 
earlier  period  of  the  movement  they  even  signed  their  works  with 
the  initials  "  P.  R.  B.M* 


•  Several  examples  of  this  practice  were  found  amongst  the  effects  of  the 
late  I>.  G.  Rossetti,  and  were  thns  enumerated  in  the  catalogue  of  the  sale 
held  last  July  :— 

"  The  following  items  were  presented  to  Dante  O.  Rossetti  towards  tho 
beginning  of  the  pre-Raphaelite  Movement,  1848  : 

34  lo.  W.  H.  Devercll,  inscribed  by  Rossetti,  '*  James  II.  robbed  by 
Fishermen,  while  escaping  from  England,"  Indian  ink.  A  very  charac- 
teristic and  humorous  design  of  this  promising  young  artist,  mounted. 

341  r.     W.  Holman  Hunt,  inscribed,  "William  Holman  Hunt,  1'  R  IV. 

B 


2  THE  JESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

It  was  suggested  that  they  should  all  reside  together,  and 
curiously  enough  the  house  they  particularly  had  in  Tiew  was  the 
very  one  in  which  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  did  eventually  reside, 
namely,  16,  Cheyne  Walk,  Chelsea.  One  member  proposed  that  a 
door-plate  should  be  provided,  with  the  letters  "  P.  K.  B."  engraved 
upon  it,  but  W.  M.  Rossetti  pointed  out  that  profane  or  jocular 
persons  might  read  it  as  "  Please  Ring  the  Bell,"  so  that  idea  wa* 
abandoned,  anil  eventually  the  whole  scheme  was  given  up,  as  it 
failed  to  meet  the  varying  requirements,  and  means,  of  the  several 
members. 

In  1850i  they  started  a  Pre-Raphaelite  Magazine,  entitled 
The  Germ,  of  which  William  Michael  Rossetti  was  appointed 
editor. 

The  pictures  contributed  by  the  P.  R.  brotherhood  to  the  Royal 
Academy  m  1849  were  highly  spoken  of,  and  in  the  following  year 
an  article  in  the  Illustrated  London  Ketcs  first  explained  in  print  the 
signilieatiou  of  the  magic  initials  P.  R.  R,  giving  some  gossip  about 
the  men  who  composed  the  society,  and  the  purposes  they  had  in 
view.  This  disclosure  caused  a  great  stir  amongst  the  critics  and 
connoisseurs  of  the  art  world,  and  abuse  was  freely  poured  upon  the 
new  persuasion,  as  might  have  been  expected. 

Mr.  Ruskin,  however,  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  persecuted 
youths  (Millais,  the  most  prominent,  being  only  21  at  the  time), 
and  in  a  letter  to  The  Times,  and  also  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Pre- 
Rni>htoliti*m*  took  up  arma  on  their  behalf.  He  thus  explain* 
his  motives  in  the  preface — "  Eight  years  ago,  in  the  close  of  the 


1*48.     W.  Holman    Hunt,  to  his  P.R.B.,  Dante  G.   Rossetti,"  also  by 
Rossetti,  "One  Step  to  the  Deathbed  (Shelley),  by  \Y.  H   Hunt." 

:t4lK.  J.  E.  Millais,  K.A.,  "Two  Lovers.  The  Lady's  Dress  caught  l.y 
the  Thorns  of  a  Rosebush  "  (intended  for  Keats'  Isabella,)  inscribed  by 
Millais,  "P.R.B.  J.  E.  Millais,  1848,  John  E.  Millais  to  his  P.R.  Brother 
Dante  tJabriel  Rossetti,"  and  by  Rossetti,  "J.  K.  Millais."  Indian  ink  out- 
line, framed. 

*  Pre-Rai>hatliti*m.     Smith,  Elder  ft  Co.,  1851. 


THE  PRE-RAPHAELITES.  3 

first  volume  of '  Modern  Painters,'  I  ventured  to  give  the  following 
advice  to  the  young  artists  of  England : — 

'  They  should  go  to  nature  in  all  singleness  of  heart,  and  walk  with  her 
laboriously  and  trustingly,  having  no  other  thought  but  how  best  to 
penetrate  her  meaning  ;  rejecting  nothing,  selecting  nothing,  and  scorning 
nothing. ' 

"  Advice  which,  whether  bad  or  good,  involved  infinite  labour  and 
humiliation  in  following  it ;  and  was  therefore,  for  the  most  part, 
rejected. 

"  It  has,  however,  at  last  been  carried  out,  to  the  very  letter,  by 
a  group  of  men,  who,  for  their  reward,  have  been  assailed  with  the 
most  scurrilous  abuse  which  I  ever  recollect  seeing  issue  from  the 
public  press.  I  have,  therefore,  thought  it  due  to  them  to  con- 
tradict the  directly-false  statements  which  have  been  made 
respecting  their  works ;  and  to  point  out  the  kind  of  merit  which, 
however  deficient  in  some  respects,  those  works  possess  beyond  the 
possibility  of  dispute." 

He  sums  up  the  errors  made  about  their  works  thus — "  These 
false  statements  may  be  reduced  to  three  principal  heads,  and 
directly  contradicted  in  succession." 

"The  first*  the  current  fallacy  of  society,  as  well  as  of  the 
press,  was,  that  the  Pre-Raphaelites  imitated  the  errors  of  early 
painters." 

"  A  falsehood  of  this  kind  could  not  have  obtained  credence  any- 
where but  in  England,  few  English  people,  comparatively,  having 
ever  seen  a  picture  of  the  early  Italian  masters.  If  they  had,  they 
would  have  known  that  the  Pre-Raphaelite  pictures  aro  just  as 
superior  to  the  early  Italian  in  skill  of  manipulation,  power  of 
drawing,  and  knowledge  of  effect,  as  inferior  to  them  in  grace  of 
design ;  and  that,  in  a  word,  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  resemblance 
between  the  two  styles.  The  Pre-Raphaelites  imitate  no  pictures ;  > 
they  paint  from  nature  only.  But  they  have  opposed  themselves 
as  a  body,  to  that  kind  of  teaching  before  described,  which  only 
began  after  Raphael's  time  ;  and  they  have  opposed  themselves  as 
sternly  to  the  entire  feeling  of  the  renaissance  schools — a  feeling 

j  B  2 


4  T1IE  jEKTHETIC   MOVEMENT   !X    KXCiLAM*. 

com]K>unded  of  indolence,  infidelity,  sensuality,  ai.il  shallow  pride. 
Therefore  they  have  called  themselves  Pre-Raphaelite.  If  they 
adhere  to  their  principles,  and  paint  nature  as  it  is  around  them, 
with  the  help  of  modern  science,  with  the  earnestness  of  the  men 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  they  will,  as  I  said, 
found  a  new  and  noble  school  in  England.  If  their  sympathies 
with  the  early  artists  lead  them  into  medievalism  or  Romanism, 
they  will,  of  course,  come  to  nothing.  But  I  believe  there  is  no 
danger  of  this,  at  least  for  tl.o  strongest  among  them." 

"  There  may  be  some  weak  ones,  whom  the  Tractarian  heresies  may 
touch  ;  but  if  so,  they  will  drop  off  like  decay ed  branches  fiom  a 
strong  stem." 

"  I  hope  all  things  from  the  school." 

"  The  second  falsehold  was,  that  the  Pre-Raphaelites  did  not  draw 
^welL  This  was  asserted,  and  could  have  been  asserted  only  by  persons 
who  had  never  looked  at  the  pictures." 

"  The  third  falsehood  was,  that  they  used  no  system  of  light  and 
shade.  To  which  it  may  be  simply  replied  that  their  system  of 
light  and  shaie  is  exactly  the  same  as  the  sun's,  which  is,  I  believe, 
likely  to  outlast  that  of  the  Renaissance,  however  brilliant" 

"  They  are  different  in  their  choice,  different  in  their  faculties, 
^~v  but  all  the  same  in  this,  that  Raphael  himself,  so  far  as  he  was 
great,  and  all  who  preceded  or  followed  him  wlio  ever  were  great, 
became  so  by  painting  the  truths  around  them  as  they  appeared  to 
each  man's  own  mind,  not  us  he  hud  been  tawjht  to  w«e  them,  except 
by  the  God  who  made  both  him  and  them." 

He  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  distinct  attributes,  and  in 
several  cases  to  warmly  commend,  the  works  of  John  Everett 
Millais,  William  Hunt,  Samuel  Prout,  John  Lewis,  Mul- 
itEADY,  and  Edwin  Land-seer,  whilst  also  devoting  much  space 
and  eloquent  praise  to  the  works  of  J.  M.  W.  Turner. 

In  1850  the  Illustrated  London  Neics  gave  an  engraving  of 
Millais'  picture,  u-  Christ  in  the  Carpenter's  Shop,"  of  which  it 
remarked : — 

"  This  picture  is  painted,  it  ia  said,  ou  a  wrong  principle,  but  with  a 


THE  PRE-HArHAELlTtS.  O 

thousand  merits  and  many  intentional  defects.  What  is  called  somewhat 
slightingly  the  Pre- Raphael  ism  of  this  picture  is  its  Irading  excellence.  The 
intentional  deformities  are  not  at  all  to  our  taste,  but  the  picture  has  so  many 
merits  that  all  its  eccentricities  may  be  very  well  excused,  though  they  cannot 
be  overlooked." 

And  when  in  \Sh2  Millais  exhibited  his  famous  picture,  "  The 
Huguenot,"  the  tide  of  public  opinion  turned  completely  in  his 
favour,  and  the  critics  found  themselves  unable  to  "withstand 
the  popular  verdict  of  approval. 

Of  the  P.  R  Brotherhood  itself,  henceforward  little  more  was 
heard,  and  of  its  seven  members,  only  one,  Hoi  man  Hunt,  has 
remained  faithful  to  his  original  creed,  and  he  has  won  a  high 
I»osition  in  his  art,  taking  as  much  as  £10,000  for  a  single  picture 
(alas  !  that  art  and  £  *.  d.  should  have  to  come  in  such  juxta- 
ixisition),  and  having  had  the  proud  satisfaction  of  refusing  to 
become  a  Royal  Academician. 

Woolnor,  after  some  rouuh  exiwriences  at  the  gold  fields  in 
Australia,  returned  to  England,  became  professor  pf  sculpture  at 
the  Royal  Academy,  and  has  executed  some  fine  statues  of  our 
great  public  men. 

Millais  has  long  since  reached  the  summit  of  his  profession,  a 
result  for  which  he  has  to  thank  the  good  taste  of  the  British  public 
far  more  than  the  sapient  art  critics,  who  seldom  recognise  genius 
until  it  is  too  late  for  their  praise  to  be  of  use,  Neither  of  these 
three  famous  artists  is,  however,  to  be  actually  identified  with  the 
present  iEsthetic  movement,  and  indeed,  in  the  magnificent  resi- 
dence of  Millais,  at  Palace  Gate,  ^Bstheticism  is  conspicuous  by  its 
absence,  and  no  /Esthetic  poet  dedicates  sonnets  to  him.  When, 
however,  we  come  to  the  fourth  of  the  original  members  of  the 
Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  Dante  Gabriel  ttowtti,  now  perhaps 
more  widely  appreciated  as  a  poet  than  as  a  painter — his  poems 
are  accessible,  his  principal  paintings  are  hidden  from  the  public 
gaze  in  private  collections — in  him  we  find  that  union  of  the  artistic 
faculties  which  is  held  to  constitute  a  true  iEsthete  developed  to  the 
fullest  extent,  and  indeed  he  must  be  held  the  foremost  member  of 
a  school  which  mainly  relies  upon  the  correlation  of  the  arts. 


7 


6  THE  .(ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

And  if  he  was  not  the  actual  founder  of  the  school,  his  genius  and 
admitted  abilities,  both  in  poetry  and  painting,  rendered  him  a 
>•  typical  representative  of  the  movement,  in  which  the  combination 
of  the  two  arts  is  constantly  aimed  at,  the  one  being  held  to  be  the 
complement  of  the  other.  A  generation  earlier,  the  eccentric  poet- 
artist  Blake  had  attempted  something  similar,  but  without  much 
success,  although  his  poems,  illustrated  by  his  own  hand,  now  fetch 
very  high  prices,  owiug  doubtless  to  Swinburne's  enthusiastic  praise 
of  them  in  his  "  Critical  Essay  on  William  Blake,"*  which  is  in 
^  every  way  worthy  of  his  pen— strong  and  vigorous  in  style,  and 
truly  poetical  in  sentiment. 

In  an  address  delivered  at  the  Social  bcieuce  Congress  at 
Manchester,  in  1879,  .Sir  Coutts  Lindsay  tersely  described  the  aims 
of  the  Pre-Raphaelitcs,  and  the  results  of  their  labours.  In  his 
remarks  about  the  various  sections  or  groups  into  which  English 
painters  might  be  classified,  he  said  : — 

"  One  of  these  groups  originated  the  so-called  Pre-Raphaelite  movement 
The  epithtt  is  an  unmeaning  one,  but,  as  it  is  generally  applied  and  ac- 
cepted, it  is  sufficient.     The  influence  of  this  group  of  men  has  been  felt  far 


*  The  biography  of  this  extraordinary  man  had  been  well  written  by 
Alexander  Gilchrist  (assisted  by  the  two  Rossettisj,  in  1863,  but  those  who 
wish  to  obtain  a  real  insight  into  the  genius  and  spirit  of  his  work  must 
peruse  Swinburne's  magnificent  essay. 

William  Blake  was  born  near  Golden-square,  on  20th  November,  1757, 
and  died  in  i»overty  in  August,  1827,  in  dismal  lodgings  in  a  close  court  off  the 
Strand.  He  was  apprenticed  to  Basire,  an  engraver  ;  but  in  addition. to  his 
work  as  an  engraver,  Blake  produced  a  number  of  poems,  in  which  the  text 
and  designs  were  interwoven,  and  it  is  upon  these  singular  works  that  his 
fame  now  rests. 

The  Jerusalem  is  the  largest  and  most  important,  and  in  the  weird  variety 
of  its  illustration  the  most  marvellous  of  Blake's  productions.  Of  the 
others,  the  principal  are  M  The  Marriage  of  Heaven  and  Hell";  "  The  Book 
of  Thel  ";  "  Milton  ";  **  Songs  of  Innocence  and  Experience  ";  "  America  " 
and  "  Kurope."  In  1782  he  married  Catherine  Boucher,  who  survived  him 
about  four  years.  When  she  died  she  was  buried  at  the  side  of  her  well- 
loved  husband,  but  where  that  was  there  is  no  monumental  stone  to  tell, 
so  little  was  Blake  prized  by  his  contemporaries. 


THE    PRE-RAPHAELITES.  I 

and  wide,  and  has  impressed  the  imagination  of  the  public  in  a  very  remark- 
able manner. 

"  I  pointed  ont  when  speaking  of  Reynolds,  that  English  painters  were, 
during  his  time,  under  subjection  to  the  Italian  and  Dutch  schools,  and  de- 
pendent on  a  class  of  men  wedded  to  scholastic  ideas  ;  the  result  being  the 
abandonment  of  the  knowledge  derived  from  Nature,  and  a  narrow 
dogmatism  based  on  what  are  called  the  canons  of  art. 

"  I  said  that  a  school  of  painting,  founded  on  such  a  basis,  must  narrow 
more  and  more  with  age,  and  must  end  by  producing  dead  conventionalities 
instead  of  living  truth.  I  pointed  out,  however,  that  our  school  was  grad- 
ually shaking  itself  clear  A  these  influences,  and  I  mentioned  some  among 
many  painters  whose  labours  were  adding  fresh  lustre  to  our  school,  long 
lief  ore  the  Pre-Raphaelites  were  heard  of.  Yet,  there  is  no  doubt,  that 
there  still  continued  a  strong  taint  of  conventionality  and  falsehood  in  the 
practice  of  our  art,  and  the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement  was  the  result. 

*'  Half-a-dozen  young  men  set  themselves  to  the  reconsideration  of  art — 
the  outcome  of  their  thought  appeared  to  them  a  revelation,  and  the  conse- 
quence a  mission. 

"They  worked  with  the  zeal  and  fauaticisui  of  religious  enthusiasts. 
Their  creed  involved  the  denial  of  everything  the  English  school  had 
hitherto  held  sacred.  They  accepted  Nature  alone  to  be  their  future  guide 
and  Bible,  and  in  it  they  beheld  the  condemnation  of  all  art  exerpt  thr 
earlitft  art  of  Italy. 

•'These  men  threw  themselves  passionately  into  the  study  of  the  natural, 
and  had  implicit  faith  in  the  all-teaching  of  Nature  without  assistance  from 
the  stores  of  past  knowledge. 

"They  soon  l>coamc  the  observed  of  all  observers,  and  the  accepted 
prophets  of  the  hour.  They  produced  a  number  of  most  interesting  works, 
replete  with  excellence  and  truth  on  the  one  side,  whilst  wanting  in  the  first 
principles  of  art  in  the  other. 

"  Hoi n ion  Hunt,  Millais,  Bun  e-Jones,  Rossetti,  and  several  others,  were 
the  apostles  of  this  movement  You  are  probably  acquainted  with  their 
early  works,  and  also  with  what  they  now  do.  Their  present  works  are  the 
best  proofs  of  how  their  faith  has  enlarged  and  their  knowledge  deepened 


Painting  and  poetry  are  nobly  blended  in  the  efforts  of  these 


THE    GERja. 


HAVE  already  alluded  to  a  small  magazine  staited  by 
the  Pre-Kaphaelite  Brotherhood,  having  for  its  chief 
miaou  tfttre,  the  union  of  art  and  letters  in  one  har- 
monious whole.  The  Genu  was,  in  fact,  to  be  written 
by  artists  and  poets  for  the  benefit  of  artists  aud  i>oets, 
and  though,  for  some  tolerably  obvious  reasons,  tha 
magazine  did  not  succeed,  it  had  several  features  of  interest  especially 
considered  in  relation  to  the  rising  ^Esthetic  School — for  its  chief 
contributors  have  siuce  become  identified  with  that  movement — 
whilst  nearly  every  name  originally  connected  with  the  unsuccessful 
little  literary  venture,  has  since  become  famous  in  art  or  letters. 

Only  four  parts  were  published;  the  tirst  in  January,  1850,  lite 
last  in  April  of  the  same  year,  and  the  price  was  one  shilling. 

"THE  1IERM, 
"  Thought*  towards  uature  in  Poetry,  Literature,  and  Art." 

Sueh   was  the  titl>page  of   Parts   1  and  2 ;   Parts  3  and  i  were 
slightly  altered,  thus  : — 

"  THE  GERM, 
"Being  thought  s|  towards  Nature.     Conducted  principally  by  artists.' * 
The  title  on  some  copies  appears  to  have  been  afterwards  altered 
to  Art  an' I  Poetry, 

On  the  wrapper  of  each  part  appeared  the  lines  : — 
"  When  wIumo  merely  hath  a  little  thought 

Will  ijlainly  thiuk  the  thought  which  is  in  him, 
Not  imaging  another's,  bright  or  dim, 

Not  mangling  with  new  words  what  others  taught  ; 


*  Londou  :  Aylott  &  Jones,  8,  Paternoster  Row . 


TIIK  GERM.  0 

When  whoso  s | teak*,  from  having  cither  sought 

Or  only  found  -  will  speak,  not  just  to  skim 
A  shallow  surface  with  words  made  ami  trim. 

But  in  that  very  speech  the  matter  brought : 
Be  not  too  keen  to  cry — '  So  this  is  all  ! 

1 A  thing  I  might  myself  have  thought  as  well, 
'  But  would  not  say  it,  for  it  Mas  not.  worth  ! ' 

Ask,  ■  Is  this  truth  ! '     For  is  it  still  to  tell 
That,  be  the  theme  a  point,  or  the  whole  earth, 

Truth  is  a  circle,  perfect,  great  or  small  ?  " 

At  the  end  of  the  first  and  second  parts  appeared  this  announce- 
ment : — 

"THE  GERM. 

•*  This  Periodical  will  consist  of  original  Poems,  Stories  to  develop 
thought  and  principle,  Essays  concerning  Art  and  other  subjects,  and 
Analytic  Reviews  of  current  Literature— particularly  of  Poetry.  Each 
number  will  also  contain  an  Etching ;  the  subject  to  be  taken  from  the 
opening  article  of  the  month. 

*'An  attempt  will  he  made,  both  intrinsically  and  by  review,  to  claim 
for  Poetry  that  place  to  which  its  present  development  in  the  literature  of 
this  country  so  emphatically  entitles  it. 

"  The  endeavour  hold  in  view  throughout  the  writings  on  art  will  lie  to 
encourage  and  enforce  an  entire  adherence  to  the  simplicity  of  nature  ;  and 
also  to  direct  attention,  as  an  auxiliary  medium,  to  the  comparatively  few 
works  which  Art  has  yet  produced  in  this  spirit.  It  need  scarcely  lie 
added  that  the  chief  object  of  the  etched  designs  will  be  to  illustrate  this 
aim  practically,  as  far  as  the  method  of  execution  will  permit;  in  which 
purpose  they  will  be  produced  with  the  utmost  care  and  completeness." 

On  the  third  and  fourth  parts  the  advertisement  was  differently 
worded : — 

ART    AND    POETRY. 

Being  Thoughts  towards  Nature. 

(JoH'lnrtnl  princijtaUtf  6y  Arti*t*. 

"Of  the  little  worthy  the  name  of  writing  that  has  ever  been  written 
upon  the  principles  of  Art  (of  course,  excepting  that  on  the  mere 
mechanism),  a  very  small  portion  is  by  Artists  themselves  ;  and  that  is  so 
scattered  that  one  scarcely  knows  where  to  find  the  ideas  of  an  Artist 
except  in  his  pieturcs. 


10  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

*'  With  a  view  to  obtain  the  thought*  of  Art  U  upon  Nature,  as  evolved 
in  Art,  in  another  language  besides  their  own  proper  one,  thin  Periodical 
has  been  established. 

"  Thus,  then,  it  is  not  open  to  the  conflicting  opinions  of  all  who  handle 
the  brush,  and  palette,  nor  is  it  restricted  to  actual  practitioners ;  but  ia 
intended  to  enunciate  the  principles  of  those  who,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Art, 
enforce  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  simplicity  of  Nature  either  in  Art  or  Poetry, 
and  consequently  regardless  whether  emanating  from  practical  Artists,  or 
from  those  who  have  studied  Nature  in  the  Artists  School. 

M  Hence  this  work  will  contain  such  original  Tales  (in  prose  or  verse), 
Poems,  Essays,  aud  the  like,  as  may  seem  conceived  in  the  spirit,  or  with 
the  intent,  of  exhibiting  a  pure  aud  unaffected  style,  to  which  purpose 
analytical  Reviews  of  current  Literature — especially  Poetry — will  be  intro- 
duced ;  as  also  illustrative  Etchings,  one  of  which  latter,  executed  with 
the  utmost  care  and  completeness,  will  appear  in  each  number." 

And  accordingly  each  of  the  four  parts  was  illustrated  by  an  etch- 
ing of  a  decidedly  Pre-Raphaelite  appearance.  The  first,  by  W. 
lloluian  Hunt,  illustrates  '•  My  Beautiful  L  uly,"  a  poeni  by  Thomas 
Woolner  (since  re-published  by  Macinillan  in  1863).  The  second  by 
James  Collinson,  represents  the  child  Jesus  ;  the  third  and  largest  by 
F.  Madox  Brown,  is  a  scene  from  King  Lear,  which  is  accompanied 
by  a  short  poem  entitled  "  Cordelia,"  by  Win.  M.  Rossetti ;  the 
fourth,  by  W.  H.  Deverell,  is  an  etching  entitled  "  Viola  and 
Olivia/'  it  is  certainly  the  least  pleasing  of  the  series,  and  the  three 
verses  with  it  (by  J.  L.  Tuppcr)  have  little  merit. 

Of  the  other  contents,  the  most  prominent  appear  to  have  been 
an  article  by  F.  Madox  Brown,  "  On  the  Mechanism  of  a  Historical 
Picture";  "  O,  When  and  Where,"  a  pretty  little  poem  by 
Woolner ;  "  The  Blessed  Damozel,"  by  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti ;  the 
latter  being  the  poem  which,  when  it  was  long  afterwards  re- 
published, Mr.  R.  Buchanan  took  occasion  to  criticise  as  follows : — 

"  The  nearest  approach  to  a  perfect  whole  is  the  "  Blessed  Damozel,"  a 
peculiar  poem  which  appeared  in  a  rough  shape  many  years  ago  in  The 
Germ,  an  unwholesome  periodical  started  by  the  Pre-Raphaelites,  and 
suffered,  after  gasping  through  a  few  feeble  numbers,  to  die  the  death  of 
all  such  publications.  In  spite  of  its  affected  title,  and  of  numberless 
affectations  throughout  the  text,  the  '  Blessed  Damozel '  has  merits  of  its 


THE  GERM.  11 

own,  and  a  few  lines  of  real  genius. — (R.  Buchanan."  Th<  Fleshly  School  oj 
Poetry). 

D.  G.  Rossetti's  other  pcems  in  The  Germ  were  "  The  Carillon," 
"  From  the  Cliffs,"  and  six  sonnets  on  various  pictures. 

Then  there  was  an  article  on  Macbeth  by  Coventry  Patmore,  and 
several  other  poems  and  articles  signed  by  D.  G.  Rossetti,  Christina 
G.  Rossetti*,  Thomas  Woolner,  James  Collinson,  Ellen  Alley n,  John 
Seward,  Calder  Campbell,  Walter  H.  Deverell,  Laura  Savage,  and 
Wr.  B.  Scott  Ellen  Alleyn  was,  in  fact,  only  a  nom  tie  phivie 
adopted  by  Christina  G.  Rossetti,  whilst  F.  G.  Stephens  assumed 
the  pseudonyms  John  Seward  and  Laura  Savage.  There  was  also 
a  long  article  entitled  "  A  Dialogue  in  Art,"  the  author  of  which 
Mr.  John  Orchard,  had  recently  died,  says  a  note,  which  further 
explains  that  he  had  not  been  very  successful  as  an  artist. 

The  last  article  of  all  is  a  review  of  Robert  Browning's  poem, 
"  Christmas  Eve  and  Easter  Day."  This,  written  by  W.  M. 
Rossetti,  the  editor,  is  a  keen  analysis  of  Browning's  peculiar 
and  involved  style ;  Rossetti  admits  he  is  metaphysical,  complicated, 
and  obscure,  but  he  adds  — "  Surely  if  you  do  not  understand  him 
the  fact  tells  two  ways.     But  if  you  will  understand  him,  you  shall." 

We  cannot  expect  all  poets  to  write  in  the  simple,  childlike 
style  of  a  Wordsworth  or  a  Longfellow,  and  when  a  man  of  genius, 
as  Drowning  undoubtedly  is,  writes  a  poem,  or  Wagner  compose* 
an  opera,  it  is  at  least  worth  while  to  try  to  discern  the  beauties 
they  contain  before  we  pronounce  an  opinion  against  them. 

It  pleased  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  his  attack  on  the  Pre-Raphaeiites  and 
iEsthetes,  to  stigmatise  The  Germ  as  an  uatch*rfc«onie  publication. 
Blind  prejudice,  or  absolute  ignorance  of  its  contents,  might 
explain,  but  could  scarcely  excuse  such  a  statement.  The  magazine 
was  written  by  men  for  men,  and  not  for  school  misses  in  sim)>er8 

*  This  talented  lady,  the  authoress  of  numerous  poems,  is  the  youngest 
of  the  Rossetti  family,  having  been  bora  in  1830 ;  William  Michael  was 
bora  in  1829;  Dante  Gabriel  in  May,  1828;  whilst  the  eldest,  Maria 
Francesca,  who  was  bora  in  1827,  died  in  1876 ;  she  wrote  a  somewhat 
noted  work  entitled,  A  Shadow  of  Dante. 


12  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN     ENGLAND. 

and  curl  papers.  It  was  frank  and  bold,  but  umch<tle*oMe*e** 
existed  only  in  the  mind  of  hi  m  who  went  to  seek  it  Prophetic 
in  its  title,  it  was  before  its  time  ;  its  aims  were  not  understood  ; 
the  circle  to  which  it  appealed  was  too  small ;  but  The  Germ 
was  there,  whence  a  great  and  beautiful  tree  of  art  has  since 
sprung  up. 

This  little  work  is  now  exceedingly  rare,  and  as  it  contains  early 
writings  of  men  who  are  now  widely  celebrated  it  is  much  sought 
after,  and  rive  pounds  is  no  unusual  price  for  what  originally  cost 
but  four  shillings. 

For  some  time  after  the  d«*ath  of  The  Germ,  the  Pre-Raphaelites 
were '^he  objects  of  ridicule  and  misrepresentation  ;  but  the}"  con- 
tinued to  work  on  patiently  in  their  various  arts,  in  which  before 
long  nearly  every  one  at  t  lined  eminence,  and  truly  some  of  their 
success  was  due  to  the  powerful  writings  of  John  Rusk  in,  who  from 
the  first  had  discerned  how  much  there  was  of  the  beautiful  and 
true  in  the  new  style  inaugurated  by  the  P.  J{.  B. 


jepN  whin 


— «*— *r 


FEW  words  here  about  tins  eccentric  genius.  A 
native  of  London,  born  in  February,  1819,  John  Rus- 
kin  went  to  Christ  Church.  Oxford,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  as  the  winner  of  the  Xewdigate  prize 
for  English  verse  in  1839,*  and  four  years  later  he  pro- 
duced the  first  volume  of  his  greatest  work,  "  Modern 
Painters,"  which  at  once  brought  him  prominent!}'  before  the 
artistic  world,  and  since  then  his  reputation  as  the  greatest  authority 
on  art,  and  the  first  critic  of  the  ag?,  has  been  firmly  established. 
His  keen  analysis  of  the  ideas  which  should  govern  *ir#,  his  clear 
definitions  of  the  really  true  and  beautiful,  and  above  and 
before  all,  his  eloquent  and  forcible  denunciations  of  all  shams 
and  of  the  modern  cheap-Jack  styles  of  architecture,  pictures,  and 
literature,  these  are  of  world-wide  celebrity  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
he  has  occasionally  descended  from  the  throne  on  which  he  reigns 
supreme,  to  mix  in  the  troubled  strife  of  the  noisy  rabble  who 
prate  and  squabble  on  the  vexed  questions  of  political  economy. 
Being  unused  to  hear  his  dicta  on  art  questioned,  he  has  also 
expected  that  his  views  on  political  economy  would  equally  be 
accepted  without  cavil,  and  has  shown  no  little  chagrin  when  his 
facts  have  l>ecn  disputed  and  his  conclusions  disproved. 

To  this  dislike  of  contradiction  must  be  added  a  kind  of  irritable 
pessimism,  which  not  only  makes  him  bitterly  dissatisfied  with 


*  «« Salnrlte  and  A7ejift<iMfa,"  a  IViws  Poem.     Recited    in  the   Theatre, 
Oxford,  June  12,  1839,  by  John  Ruskin,  Christ  Church. 


14  THE  .-ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

th ings  as  they  are,  but  causes  him  at  times  to  rail  against  those  who 
would  wish  honestly  to  ameliorate  them,  and  to  despair  of  any  real 
improvement  being  practicable  ;  least  of  all  unless  the  initi'ttive  has 
been  of  his  taking. 

Such  being  his  well-known  opinions,  and  his  style  of  expressing 
them  being  often  of  a  more  forcible  than  courteous  description,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  the  following  letter  obtained  a  wide  credence. 

At  the  distribution  of  prizes  to  the  art  classes  at  Chesterfield  in 
November,  1880,  the  secretary  read  an  extraordinary  communication 
purporting  to  come  from  Mr.  John  Ruskin,  in  answer  to  one  asking 
him  to  give  them  a  lecture.     It  was  as  follows : — . 

"  Harlesden,  London,  Friday. 

"  My  dear  Sir, — Your  letter  reaches  me  here.  I  have  just  returned  from 
Venice,  where  I  have  ruminated  in  the  pasturages  of  the  home  of  art ;  the 
loveliest  and  holiest  of  lovely  and  holy  cities,  where  the  very  stones  cry 
out,  eloquent  in  the  elegancies  of  Iambics.  I  could  not  if  I  would  go  to 
Chesterfield,  and  I  much  doubt  whether  I  would  go  if  I  could.  I  do  not 
hire  myself  out— after  the  fashion  of  a  brainless  long-tongued  puppet— for 
filthy  ducats.  You,  and  those  who  told  you  to  write  me,  want  me,  I 
presume,  to  come  that  you  may  make  money  for  your  art  class  ;  and  if  I 
should  get  you  much  money,  you  will  then  tolerate  some  good  advice  from 
me.     Xo,  I  will  not  come. 

"  I  have  heard  of  Chesterfield.  Hath  it  not  a  steeple-abomination,  and 
is  it  not  the  home— if  not  the  cradle— of  that  arch  abomination-creator, 
Stephenson  ?  To  him  are  we  indebted  for  the  screeching  and  howling  and 
shrieking  fiends  tit  only  for  a  Pandemonium,  called  locomotives,  that  dis- 
figure the  loveliest  spots  of  Ood's  own  land. 

41 1  will  not  come  to  Chesterfield.  Tell  your  .students  that  art  is  a  holy 
luxury,  and  they  must  pay  for  it.  Tell  them  to  study,  to  ponder,  and  to 
work  with  a  single  thought  for  perfection,  observing  loving  and  strict 
obedience  to  the  monitions  of  their  teacher.  Let  them  learn  to  do  tilings 
rightly  ami  humbly,  and  then,  by  the  conviction  that  they  can  never  do  them 
as  well  as  they  have  been  done  by  others,  they  may  be  profited. 

**  ^'y  good  young  people,  this  is  pre-eminently  the  foolishest—  yes,  quite 
the  foolishest— notion  that  you  can  get  into  your  empty  little  egg-shells  of 
heads  ;  that  you  can  be  a  Titian,  or  a  Raphael,  or  a  Phidias  ;  or  that  yon 
can  write  like  Seneca.  But  because  you  cannot  be  great,  that  is  no  reason 
why  you  should  not  aspire  to  greatness.  In  joy,  humility,  and  humbleness, 
work  together.     Only  dout  study  art  l>ecause  it  will  pay,  and  do  not  ask 


JOHN  RUSKIN.  15 

for  payment  because  you  study  art.  Art  will  make  you  all  wiser  and 
happier,-  and  is  worth  paying  for.  If  yon  are  in  debt— at  I  suppose  you  are, 
or  why  pester  me  ?— pay  off  your  debts  yourselves.  If  you  write  to  mo 
only  that  you  may  get  money,  you  are  on  the  foolishest  of  all  errands. 
Wisdom  is  more  precious  than  rubies,  and  is  offered  to  you  as  a  blessing  in 
herself.  She  is  the  reward  of  industry,  kindness  and  njodesty.  She  is  the 
prize  of  prizes,  the  strength  of  your  life  now,  and  an  earnest  of  the  life  that 
is  to  come.  This  advice  is  better  than  money,  and  I  give  it  to  you  gratis. 
Ponder  it  and  profit  by  it.— Ever  faithfully  yours,  J0112J;  Rcskin." 

Many  were  the  comments  which  this  letter,  widely  published,  as 
it  was  sure  to  be,  created ;  for  admiration  of  the  past,  and  the 
theory,  shared  with  Mr.  Carlyle,  that  people  are  "  mostly  fools,"  had 
long  been  openly  expressed  by  Mr.  Iiuskin,  and  scarcely  any  one 
doubted  the  authenticity  of  the  letter  addressed  to  Chesterfield,  a 
name  which  at  once  recals  that  of  a  celebrated  Earl  who  also  wrote 
letters,  but  his  were  on  the  art  of  politeness. 

But  a  few  days  afterwards  Mr.  Raskin  denied  that  he  had 
composed  the  epistle  ;  it  is,  therefore,  only  of  interest  as  so  clever  a 
parody  of  his  style  that  the  whole  London  press  was  deceived  by  it. 
Now  lovers  of  literature  owe  so  much  to  Mr.  Hut-kin  that  it  is 
almost  painful  to  comment  on  his  too  frequent  expressions  of 
petulant  prejudice.  Mr.  liuskin's  writings,  "  The  Stones  of 
Venice, *  "  The  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture,"  "  Modern  Painters," 
and  many  of  his  quaintly -named  minor  works,  have,  as  it  were, 
given  eyes  to  the  blind.  They  have  widened  the  circle  of  the 
nobler  pleasures,  and  even  when  they  excite  opposition,  teach 
people  to  think  and  to  see  for  themselves.  As  an  essayist  on  other 
topics  Mr.  Knskin  has  done  one  great  service.  He  has  kept  telling 
our  age  that  we  are  not  precisely  "  the  roof  and  crown  of  things," 
and  he  has  made  us  acknowledge  that  in  olden  times  people  did 
many  noble  things  better  than  we  can  do  them. 

Mr.  Ruskin's  numerous  works  are  not  very  readily  accessible,  for 
lie  has  peculiar  ideas  with  regard  to  their  publication,  refusing  to 
re-issue  some  of  his  writings  in  order  not  to  depreciate  the  value 
of  those  in  the  hands  of  present  possessors  of  the  early  copies. 
Thus,  many  of  his  pamphlets  and  essays  command  prices  quite  out 


16  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

of  proportion  to  those  at  which  they  were  issued.  Whilst  by  not 
having  a  London  publisher,  the  bookselling  and  book-buying 
public  in  general  have  not  been  so  well  informed  about  his  writings 
as  they  would  have  been  had  the  books  been  generally  exhibited 
for  sale  in  the  usual  manner. 

Mr.  George  Allen,  of  Orpington,  Kent,  sends  out  a  list  of  Mr. 
Ituskin's  works  to  intending  purchasers,  accompanied  by  the 
following : — 

Advice  bv  Mr.  RrsKix. 

I  have  directed  Mr.  Allen,  in  this  and  all  future  issues  of  his  list  of  my 
purchaseable  works,  to  advertise  none  but  those  which  he  is  able  to  dispatch 
to  order  by  return  of  post.  The  just  estimate  of  decline  in  the  energy  of 
advancing  age, — the  warnings,  now  thrice  repeated,  of  disabling  illness  con- 
sequent on  any  unusual  exertion  of  thought  ;  -  and,  chiefly,  the  difficulty  I 
now  find  in  addressing  a  public  for  whom,  in  the  course  of  the  last  few  years 
of  Revolution,  old  things  have  passed  away,  and  all  things  become  new, 
render  it,  in  my  thinking,  alike  irreverent  and  unwise  to  sjteak  of  any  once- 
intended  writings  as  44  in  preparation." 

44 1  may,  perhaps,  pray  the  courtesy  of  my  readers, — and  here  and  there, 
the  solicitude  of  my  friends,— to  refer,  at  the  time  of  the  monthly  issue  of 
Magazine*,  to  this  circular  of  Mr.  Allen's,  iu  which,  on  the  terminal  page, 
they  will  always  tin. I  the  priced  announcement  of  anything  1  have  printed 
during  the  month.  May  I  also  venture  to  hint  to  friends  who  may  at  any 
time  be  anxious  about  me,  that  the  only  trustworthy  evidences  of  my 
health  are  my  writings  :  and  that  it  is  a  prettier  attention  to  an  old  man,  to 
read  what  he  wishes  to  say,  and  can  say  without  effort,  than  to  require  him 
to  answer  vexing  question*  on  general  subjects,  or  to  add  to  his  day's 
ap|>ointcd  laliour  the  burden  of  accidental  and  unnecessary  correspondence." 

John  Ruskin,  and  E.  Burne-Jones  (to  whom  Swinburne  dedicated 
a  volume  of  his  poems),  have  been  sometimes  named  as  belong- 
ing to  the  original  P.  R.  brotherhood,  but  erroneously  it  appears. 

Ruskin,  as  before  mentioned,  only  became  identified  with  the 
"  P.R.R.,"  through  taking  up  the  cudgels  against  the  press  on  its 
behalf,  he  being  then  a  young  man. 

It  seems,  however,  that  on  the  dissolution  of  the  original  brother- 
hood, a  number  of  enthusiastic  admirers  set  to  work  to  imitate  it, 
and  whilst  copying  all  the  eccentricities  of  the  real,  original,  and 


JOHN  RUSKIN.  17 

only  Pre-Raphaelites,  appeared  to  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they 
wanted  the  genius  of  those  who  set  the  movement  a-foot. 

Thus  Whistler  (the  "  Impressionist"),  whose  name  is  frequently 
quoted  with  that  of  Burne-Jones,  as  a  representative  of  the  ex- 
treme section  of  the  school  (although,  indeed,  the  two  artists  have 
little  in  common),  is  so  far  unfaithful  to  the  creed  of  the  original 
"P.R.B."  that  we  find  him  bringing  an  action  against  John 
Ruskin,  the  quondam  champion  of  that  body. 

Ruskin  had  vindicated  Turner  from  the  attacks  of  those  who 
were  able  to  see  the  eccentricity  only,  and  not  the  genius  of  that 
artist,  of  those  who  thought  his  work  but 

'*  A  landscape,— foreground  golden  dirt, 
The  sunshine  painted  with  a  squirt.'* 

Ruskin  clearly  demonstrated  that  Turner,  in  spite  of  his 
peculiarities,  knew  and  painted  more  of  nature  than  any  other  artist 
that  ever  lived,  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  not  prepared  to  go 
the  length  of  praising  the  absurd  parodies  of  Turner's  style  then 
being  produced  in  almost  any  number,  and  dignified  by  such 
appellations  as  symphonies  in  black  and  yellow,  or  harmonies  in 
green  and  gold,  many  of  which  pictures  not  only  the  public 
but  even  the  art  critics  could  not  decipher.  Amongst  Rnskin's 
numerous  critical  articles,  there  was  one  in  which  he  sharply 
rebuked  Mr.  Whistler,  whose  mannerisms  were  then  the  talk  of  the 
whole  artistic  world.  The  critic  had  said  of  the  artist  that  he 
flung  a  paint-pot  in  the  fice  of  the  public,  and  called  it  a  picture. 
Hence  the  law-suit,  Whistler  v..  Ruskin.  This  action  was  an 
amusing  episode  in  the  history  of  painting,  and  the  result  showed 
the  folly  of  apj>caling  to  a  prosaic  British  Jury  on  a  question  of 
pretended  transcendental  art  It  was  said  at  the  time  of  the  prolific 
manufacturer  of  arrangements,  symphonies,  nocturnes,  and  har- 
monies, in  gold  and  silver,  that  he  was  reduced  to  making  a  com- 
position in  whitewash  with  his  creditors,  as  he  became  bankrupt 
shortly  after  receiving  his  verdict  for  a  farthing  damages. 

Nothing  daunted  with  the  small  result  he  had  obtained  at  law, 
Mr.  Whistler  had  recourse  to  the  pen,  and  published  a  pamphlet  on 

C 


18  THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IN   ENGLAND. 

Art  and  Art  Critics,  which  had  a  very  considerable  sale.  He  takes 
the  very  natural  stand,  "  that  one  might  admit  criticism  from  a 
man  who  had  passed  his  whole  life  in  the  science  which  he 
attacks." 

He  si  iows  how  a  critic  had  written  in  the  Times,  of  June,  1864, 
that  "  a  picture  was  slovenly  in  execution,  and  poor  in  colour," 
which,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  a  Velasquez,  and  had 
revelled  in  the  praises  of  a  supposed  Turner,  that  was  shown  not 
to  be  a  Turner  at  all.  What,  he  asks,  should  we  think  of  the 
Observatory  at  Greenwich  under  the  direction  of  an  apothecary,  or 
the  College  of  Surgeons  with  Tennyson  as  President?  "Yet  a 
school  of  art,  with  a  litterateur  at  its  head,  disturbs  no  one.  What 
greater  sarcasm  can  Mr.  Buskin  pass  upon  himself  than  that  he 
preaches  to  young  men  what  he  cannot  perform  !  Why,  unsatis- 
fied with  his  conscious  power,  should  he  choose  to  become  wthe 
type  of  incompetence,  by  talking  for  forty  years  of  what  he  has 
never  done  ! " 

There  is  much  that  is  reasonable  in  this,  and  it  is  easy  to  call  to 
mind  a  dozen  instances  in  which  the  critics  have  been  wrong, 
and  the  public  in  the  right  The  virulent  attacks  made  upon  the 
early  works  of  Shelley,  Keats,  Byron,  and  Tennyson,  will  occur  to 
every  one.  But  in  this  particular  instance  public  opinion  seemed 
to  side  with  Ruskin,  for  people  were  beginning  to  tire  of  pictures 
which  looked  quite  as  well  upside  down  as  any  other  way,  and 
when  Mr.  Edward  Terry  (as  Pygmalion  Flippit,  an  artist  of  the 
Future)  produced  his  "  Dual  Harmony,"  in  the  amusing  little 
comedy  called  The  Grasshopper,  all  London  crowded  to  see  his 
picture,  which  represented  the  boundless  blue  ocean  beneath  a 
burning  sky,  or  if  reversed,  showed  the  vast  sandy  desert  under  a 
blue  and  cloudless  one.  And  the  merry  laughter  over  his  simple 
red  and  blue  picture  probably  had  more  effect  in  discrediting 
these  ridiculous  travesties  of  art  than  all  Mr.  Buskin's  powerful 
articles.  These  incidents  call  to  mind  the  usual  remark  of  unsuc- 
cessful men,  especially  t/tists ;  that  popularity  mainly  results  from 
chance  or  fashion,  and  is  no  proof  of  real  genius. 


JOHN*   RUSK IX.  19 

And,  when  all  is  said,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Buskin  is, 
after  all,  little  more  than  an  art  critic  and  a  literary  man — he  is 
not  an  mrtht,  and  Mr.  Whistler  in  his  pamphlet  has  some  remarks 
on  this  point  which  are  worthy  of  recollection. 

"  The  war,"  he  says  (referring  to  the  action,  "  Whistler  v. 
Buskin" )  "fought  the  other  day  in  Westminster,  is  really  one 
between  the  Brush  and  the  Pen,  and  involves  the  absolute  raisnn 
tTUre  of  the  critic.  To  the  cry  on  their  part,  *  that  they  must 
live,'  I  reply  at  once,  *  I  do  not  see  the  necessity.'  Over  and 
over  again  did  the  Attorney-General  cry  out  aloud,  *  What  is  to 
beconn  of  painting  if  tin  critic*  withhold  their  Lish  ? '  As  well 
might  he  ask,  what  is  to  become  of  mathematics  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, were  they  possible.  We  are  told  that  Mr.  RnsVin 
has  devoted  his  long  life  to  art,  and  as  a  result  is  Slade  Professor  at 
Oxford.  A  life  passed  among  pictures  make3  not  a  painter.  As 
well  might  one  allege  that  he  win  lives  in  a  library  must  needs 
become  a  poet  The  Attorney-General  said,  '  There  are  some 
people  who  would  do  away  with  critics  altogether/  I  agree  with 
him,  and  am  one  of  those  he  points  at ;  but  let  me  be  clearly  under- 
stood— the  art  critic  alone  would  I  extinguish.  That  writers  should 
destroy  writings  to  the  benefit  of  writing  is  reasonable.  But  let 
art  work  be  received  in  silence,  as  it  was  in  the  days  to  which  pen- 
men still  point  as  an  era  when  art  was  at  its  apogee.  Harm  the 
critics  do,  and  not  good.  Furnished  as  they  are  with  the  means  of 
furthering  their  foolishness,  they  spread  prejudice  abroad  ;  and 
through  the  papers  at  their  service,  thousands  are  warned  against  '* 

the  work  they  have  yet  to  look  upon." 

Nor  is  it  English  artists  alone  who  have  occasion  to  complain  of 
the  ignorance  and  incompetence  of  the  critics.  .  The  early  life  of 
that  truly  sublime  artist,  Antoine  Wiertz,  was  embittered  by  his 
strife  with  the  arrogant  wasps  of  the  French  and  Belgian  press. 

The  art  criticisms  of  Victor  Joly  have  long  since  faded  into 
oblivion,  but  his  features,  as  preserved  by  Wiertz  in  his  caricature 
"  Don  Quiblaque  "  will  never  be  forgotten  when  once  seen.  Wiertz 
had  also  his  ievenge  by  collecting  all  the  contradictory  tffotfl  from 

C  2 


20  THE  iESTHETlC   MOVEMENT   IN   ENGLAND. 

the  various  criticisms,  and  republishing  them  side  by  side,  an  extra- 
ordinary jumble  of  almost  incredible  imbecility  being  the  result 
And  again,  when  after  years  of  toil  and  anxiety,  his  glorious 
**  Patmclus w  obtained  admission  to  the  Louvre  and  was  faintly 
praised  by  a  few  Parisian  critics,  he  affixed  the  following  satirical 
note,  which  may  still  be  traced  on  the  left-hand  side  of  that  magni- 
ficent chef  (fceuvre  now  in  the  Wiertz  Museum  at  Brussels : — 

"  Nous,  Feuilletoniates  de  Paris,  Princes  de  la  critique,  seuls  reconnns 
souverains  et  garantis  infallibles.  A  nos  bons  et  fid  ties  vassaux  les  critiques 
d'AUemagne,  ceux  d'Angleterre,  ceux  de  Belgiqne  qui  se  nonrissent  de  biere, 
etc.,  etc.  ;  les  dits  bons  critiques  le  sont  assez  pour  ne  reconnaitre  d'autres 
Lois  que  celles  emmanees  de  nos  plumes,  et  voulant  venir  en  aide  aux  dits 
bons  critiques  appeles  a  formuler  un  jugement  sur  le  present  ouvrage  de 
peinture  : — 

"  Avons  applique*  au  dit  ouvrage  le  sceau  de  notre  approbation  Parisienne." 
"  Donne  a  Notre  Exposition  du  Louvre  le  15  Aout,  1844." 

(Here  is  a  seal  consisting  of  a  carrot  and  a  peacock's  feather  crossed, 
with  the  legend  "  approbation  Parisienne.")  Wiertz  laboured  hard 
to  prove  that  painters  knew  more  of  art  than  did  the  critics,  a  pro- 
position not  difficult  of  demonstration,  and  yet  how  largely  is  the 
public  mind  influenced  by  the  anonymous  articles  of  irresponsible, 
and  often  incapable,  critics,  who  would  write  with  equal  pomposity 
and  assurance  on  Chinese  metaphysics,  a  game  of  cricket,  Moltke's 
strategy,  or  the  integral  calculus. 

But  Mr.  Whistler  may  surely  expect  the  millennium  to  come 
about  before  art  criticism  is  abolished,  and  as  any  one  who  considers 
he  has  u  taste,"  also  consider*  himself  equal  to  pronouncing  a  judg- 
ment on  works  of  art,  we  must  leave  the  public  to  discriminate 
between  the  true  and  the  false  in  criticism. 

Xow,  although  Ruskin  chose  to  speak  out  plainly  in  the  matter 
of  Mr.  Whistler's  pictures,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  true 
^Esthetic  School  owes  much  to  him,  not  only  for  pointing  out  the 
real  direction  in  which  pure  art  and  real  beauty  are  to  be  found, 
but  also  for  a  style  of  phraseology,  forcible  and  picturesque  in 
itself,  but  which,  unfortunately,  easily  lends  itself  to  burlesque  and 
absurd  exaggeration. 


iOTLS  RUSKIN*.  21 

Let  us  take  a  small  extract  from  his  notes  on  Samuel  Prout  and 
William  Hunt's  loan  collection  of  pictures. 

"  That  little  brown-red  butterfly  [142]... is  a  piece  of  real  painting  ;  and 
it  is  as  good  as  Titian  or  anybody  else  ever  did,  and  if  you  can  enjoy  it  you 
can  enjoy  Titian  and  all  other  good  painters  ;  and  if  you  can't  sec  anything 
in  it  you  can't  see  anything  in  them,  and  it's  all  affectation  and  pretence  to 
say  that  you  care  about  them.  And  wi*h  this  butterfly  in  the  drawing  I 
put  first,  please  look  at  the  mug  and  loaf  in  the  one  I  have  put  last  of  the  Hunt 
series,  No.  171.  The  whole  art  of  painting  is  in  that  mug— as  the  fisher- 
man's genius  was  in  the  bottle.  If  you  can  feel  how  beautiful  it  is,  how 
ethereal,  how  heathery, 'and  heavenly,  as  well  as  to  the  uttermost  muggy, 
you  have  an  eye  for  colour  and  can  enjoy  heather,  heaven,  ami  everything 
else  below  and  above.  If  not,  you  must  enjoy  what  you  can  contentedly, 
but  it  won't  be  painting  ;  anil  in  mugs  it  will  be  more  the  beer  than  the 
crockery,  and  on  the  moors  rather  grouse  than  heather." 

For  those  who  have  neglected  the  opportunity  of  testing  their 
taste  for  art  on  this  butterfly,  and  on  this  mug,  I  would  advise  a 
visit  to  Venice,  to  learn  whether  they  can  appreciate  liassano's 
hair  trunk,  as  shown  in  his  grand  picture  of  the  Pope  Alexander 
and  the  Doge  of  Venice.  It  is  not  Kuskin,  but  one  who  has  read 
Buskin  who  thus  describes  it : — 

"  The  hair  of  this  trunk  is  real  hair,  so  to  speak,  white  in  patches,  brown 
in  patches.  The  details  are  finely  worked  out ;  the  repose  proper  to  hair  in 
a  recumbent  and  inactive  condition,  is  charmingly  expressed.  There  is  a 
feeling  about  this  part  of  the  work,  which  lifts  it  to  the  highest  altitudes  of 
art ;  the  sense  of  sordid  realism  vanishes  away — one  recognizes  that  there 
is  *oul  here.  View  this  trunk  as  you  will,  it  is  a  gem,  it  is  a  marvel,  it  is  a 
miracle.  Some  of  the  effects  are  very  daring,  approaching  even  to  the 
boldest  flights  of  the  rococo,  the  sirocco,  and  the  Byzantine  schools.  Yet 
the  master's  hand  never  falters— it  moves  on,  calm,  majestic,  confident ; 
and,  with  that  art  which  conceals  art,  it  finally  casts  over  the  tout  ensemble, 
by  mysterious  methods  of  its  own,  a  subtle  something  which  refines, 
subdues,  etherealizes  the  arid  components,  and  endues  them  with  the  deep 
charm  and  gracious  witchery  of  poesy.  Among  the  art-treasures  of  Europe 
there  are  pictures  which  approach  the  hair  trunk— there  are  two  which  may 
be  said  to  equal  it,  possibly— but  there  is  none  that  surpasses  it." 

It  is  thus  that  Mark  Twain  pleasantly  parodies  Ruskin's  language, 
and  at  the  same  time,  deprecates  the  custom  of  critics  who  go  into 


11  THE   ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IN   ENGLAND. 

raptures  over  a  worthless  picture  or  statue,  because  it  happens  to  be 
old,  damaged,  and  worm-eaten,  and  can  see  no  merit  in  the  pro- 
ductions of  to-day. 

It  seems  strange  that  in  these  days  when  democratic  sentiment 
is  so  fast  spreading  in  every  direction,  that  the  artist  alone,  be  he 
painter,  sculptor,  musician,  or  poet,  should  proclaim  aloud,  his 
odi  profanum  vulgus.  Yet  'tis  but  a  short  time  since  the  gifted, 
and  essentially-popular,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy,  Sir 
Frederick  Lcighton,  who  has  little  if  any  sympathy  with  the 
extreme  ^  Esthetic  school,  thus  adopted  their  mode  of  speaking  in  an 
addiess  to  a  society  of  architects  : — "  So  long  as  there  exists  amongst 
the  public  a  grotesque  ind inference  to  beauty,  and  a  callous  indiffer- 
ence to  ugliness — until  the  people  have  a  higher  sense  and  a  more 
refined  perception  of  beauty,  the  career  of  the  true  architect  will  be, 
1  fear,  a  life-long  struggle  against  the  solid,  and  serried  ranks  of  the 
Philistines/' 

Now  liuskin,  we  know,  always  writes  in  this  way.  Thus  in 
his  criticism  of  Miss.  Thompson's  pictures,  which  he  ends  by 
praising  enthusiastically,  he  premises  by  saying,  "but  I  had 
thought  that  what  the  public  admired  must  be  bad,"  and  many 
amusiug  examples  of  this  kind  of  writing  are  to  be  found  in  his 
books  and  articles. 

So,  too,  in  the  musical  world,  we  lind  Wagner  (who,  by  the  way, 
has  many  points  in  common  with  our  .-Esthetic  school)  displays  a 
similarly  contemptuous  regard  of  public  opinion. 

If  this  want  of  appreciation  really  exists  to  the  extent  these 
supercilious  artists  and  authors  would  have  us  believe,  the  remedy 
is  with  them  ;  to  educate  the  public  taste  up  to  the  required  level 
they  have  but  to  put  before  the  public  nothing  but  works  of  the 
purest,  noblest,  and  most  refined  artistic  merit ;  flashy  mediocrity, 
and  fleshly  drivel  will  shortly  then  be  banished  from  our  walls 
and  book-shelves. 


THE    6WYEN0R    6HLLERY. 


^UT  to  return  to  our  ^Esthetes.  It  was  by  the  foundation 
of  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay's  Grosrenor  Gallery  a  few  years 
ago  that  strength  and  solidity  were  first  given  to  the 
movement  amongst  the  artists  of  the  school  They 
thus  obtained  a  head  quarters  for  their  art,  and  the 
founder  was  one  of  themselves  in  his  opinions.  Al- 
though nothing  can  take  from  the  venerable  Royal  Academy  its 
historical  prestige,  yet  it  has  certainly  found  a  formidable  rival  in 
the  Bond-street  gallery. 

Pictures  are  admitted  to  the  former  institution  nominally  by 
selection  according  to  merit ;  but  in  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  the 
more  exclusive  system  has  been  adopted  of  inviting  artists  to  exhibit. 
This  method  of  admission  has  enabled  painters  who  were  either 
unwilling  (as  many  were)  or  unable  to  obtain  an  entire  into  the 
Royal  Academy,  to  bring  their  best  works  prominently  before  the 
general  public,  without  having  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  jealousy  of  the 
Royal  Academicians,  and  without  having  to  bow  down  before  a 
narrow-minded  and  exclusive  clique,  which  settles  not  only  who  shall 
exhibit,  but  can  at  any  time  punish  an  uiqtopular  man  by  placing 
his  work  so  high,  or  so  low,  that  only  a  giant  or  a  child  can  catch 
a  glimpse  of  it. 

Those  who  have  regularly  visited  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  cannot 
fail  to  have  noticed  the  characteristics  of  the  ^Esthetic  School, 
as  represented  in  the  pictures  exhibited  there  since  1878. 

With  the  exception  of  the  numerous  paintings  by  J.  A.  Whistler, 
whose  works  have  principally  been  noted  for  the  affected  titles 


24  THE  .-ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IN    ENGLAND. 

bestowed  upon  them,  the  pictured  are  noticeable  for  the  pro- 
minence given  in  them  to  the  union  of  the  arts  of  poetry  and 
painting,  their  topics  being  frequently  selected  from  the  works 
of  the  poets  of  the  .-Esthetic  school ;  they  are  next  remarkable  for 
the  skill  and  care  bestowed  upon  the  colouring,  the  tints  usually 
being  of  a  subdued,  often  of  a  sombre  nature,  as  more  suited  to  the 
weird  and  mournful  character  of  many  of  the  compositions. 

A  weird  sort  of  sensation  of  being  carried  back  into  the  Middle 
Ages  is  engendered  by  long  gazing  at  these  pictures,  for  in  that 
temple  of  art  of  which  Burne-Jones  is  the  high  priest,  one  seems  to 
feel  the  priestly  influence  stealing  over  one,  as  when  standing 
before  some  piece  of  glorious  glass  painting  in  an  old  Gothic 
cathedral  Indeed,  the  resemblance  is  somewhat  more  than 
fanciful,  for  in  these  compositions  the  figures  are  strongly  defined, 
clearly  detached,  and  transparent  in  tint,  and  the  effect  is  very 
similar  to  that  seen  in  stained  glass  windows. 

Perspective  does  not  seem  to  have  received  the  same  amount  of 
attention  as  colour ;  and  this,  coupled  with  the  somewhat  constrained 
and  angular  attitudes  of  the  figures,  a  peculiar  arrangement  of  closely 
fitting  draperies,  and  the  general  tone  of  colours  employed,  give 
the  majority  of  the  paintings  an  appearance  which  can  best  be 
indicated  as  resembling  the  Japanese  stjle  of  art,  a  resemblance 
which  is  also  to  be  found  in  the  furniture  and  costumes  adopted  by 
people  of  .Esthetic  tastes. 

But  it  is  in  the  portrayal  of  female  beauty  that  ^Esthetic  art  is 
most  peculiar,  both  in  conception  as  to  what  constitutes  female 
loveliness,  and  in  the  treatment  of  it 

The  type  most  usually  found  is  that  of  a  pale  distraught  lady 
with  matted  dark  auburn  hair  falling  in  masses  over  the  brow,  and 
shading  eyes  full  of  love-lorn  languor,  or  feverish  despair ;  emaciated 
cheeks  and  somewhat  heavy  jaws ;  protruding  upper  lip,  the  lower 
lip  being  indrawn,  lon£  crane  neck,  flat  breasts,  and  long  thin 
nervous  hands. 

It  naturally  follows  that  artists  having  selected  this  ideal  of 
loveliness,  certain  ladies  should  endeavour  to  attain  it,  and  in  not  a 


THE  GROSVENOR  GALLERY.  25 

few  cases  they  have  earned  the  derision  of  the  Philistines,  one  of 
whom  thus  describes : — 

A   FF.MALE   .CSTHETE. 

••  Maiden  of  the  sallow  brow. 
Listen  whilst  my  love  I  vow ! 
By  thy  kisses  which  consume  ; 
By  thy  spikenard- like  perfume  ; 
By  thy  hollow,  parboiled  eyes  ; 
By  thy  heart-devouring  sighs  ; 
By  thy  sodden,  pasty  cheek  ; 
By  thy  poses,  from  the  Greek  ; 
By  thy  tongue,  like  asp  which  stings  ; 
By  thy  zither's  twangy  strings  ; 
By  thy  dress  of  stewed-sage  green  ; 
By  thy  idiotic  mien  ; —  j 

By  these  signs,  O  aesthete  mine, 
Thou  shalt  be  my  Valentine  !  *'         I 

Edward  Burne- Jones,  Dante  G.  Rossetti,  and  James  A.  MacNeill 
Whistler  have  already  been  mentioned  as  artists  of  the  ^Esthetic 
School,  but  there  are  many  others  whose  works  jhave  received  quite 
as  much  attention,  and  are  quite  as  ^Esthetic  inj  their  style. 

I  will  enumerate  a  few  only  of  the  more  cJiairaeteristic  paintings 
recently  exhibited  in  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  which  will  serve  to 
show  how  widespread  has  been  the  influence  of  the  movement, 
and  how  ridiculous  it  is  to  sneer  at  the  results  it  has  achieved. 

EL  Borwb-Joneh. — "  Laus  Veneris," 

«*  Le  Chant  d' Amour." 

"  Pan  and  Psyche." 

"  The  Annunciation." 

"  The  Golden  Stairs." 

"The  Mill." 

"  Danae  at  the  Brazen  Tower." 

"  The  Tree  of  Forgiveness." 

All  these  are  indeed  pictures  of  the  most  intense  and  romantic  style, 
"Laos  Veneris"  was  painted  1873-75,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that 
many  years  before  that,  Swinburne  had  dedicated  his  poem,  having 


26  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IX   ENGLAND. 

the  same  title,  to  E.  Burne-Joues,  as  this  is  a  most  interesting  link 
in  the  ^Esthetic  idea  of  the  union  of  the  arts  of  poetry  and 
painting. 

44  Pan  and  Psyche"  also  represents  an  incident  taken  from  another 
]»ueiu,  William  Morris's  44  The  Earthly  Paradise." 

44  The  Tree  of  Forgiveness,"  which  worthily  occupied  the  position 
of  honour  in  this  year's  Grosvenor  Exhibition,  was  a  remarkable  pic- 
ture, full  of  the  highest  poetical  inspiration,  and  most  intense  in  its 
expression  of  love  and  sorrow. 

44  Phyllis,  amidst  her  mourning  because  Demophoon  had  forsaken  her, 
was  turned  by  the  kind  gods  into  an  almond  tree  ;  and  after,  as  he  passed 
by,  consumed  with  sorrow  for  her,  she  became  once  more  visible  to  him,  no 
less  loving  than  of  old  time  ;  and  this  was  the  first  blossoming  of  the 
almond  tree." 

The  apparition  of  the  lovely  Phyllis  springing  forth  lroiu  the 
trunk  of  the  almond  tree,  and  almost  as  it  were  out  of  the  picture, 
has  a  powerful  and  startling  effect,  the  anatomy  of  the  limbs 
Wing  brought  into  powerful  relief,  whilst  the  deep  despair  and 
yearning  of  heartfelt  love  depicted  on  the  faces  long  dwell  on  the 
memory. 

J.  M.  Strudwick. — 44  Marsyas  and  Apollo." 

44  Peona."     From  Keats's  "  Endymion." 

44  Saint  Cecilia." 

44  Isabella." 

"  Passing  Days." 

Sir  Coutts  Lindsay,  Bart. — "  Ariadne." 

44  The  Fates." 
44  The  Boat  of  Charon.*' 

Cecil  G.  Lawsox. — "  The  Minister's  Garden." 

44  In  the  Valley." 

"The  August  Moon." 

"  The  Voice  of  the  Cuckoo," 
This  talented  artist,  who  died  in  June  last,  at  the  early  age  of  30 
years,  has  left  works  which  show  that  he  could  treat  landscapes  so 


THE  GROSVEXOR  GALLERY.  2< 

as  to  bring  out  the  poetical,  as  well  as  the  artistic  beauties  of  nature, 
suggestive  as  well  as  imitative.  His  style  was  bold  and  firm,  and 
his  colouring  vivid  ;  his  death  has  deprived  the  world  of  an  artist 
of  great  promise. 

In  this  year's  exhibition  at  the  Grosvenor  were  three  landscapes 
by  him,  and  one  painting,  entitled  "  Provence  Roses,"  by  his  wife. 

Of  his,  perhaps  "  The  Storm  Cloud  "  was  the  most  characteristic, 
being  a  study  of  somewhat  gloomy  mountain  scenery,  with  heavy 
masses  of  moving  storm  clouds.  The  others  were  a  view  on  the  road 
to  Monaco,  and  "  September,"  a  wild  sunset  effect,  with  some  cattle 
half  seen  through  autumnal  haze. 

C.  Fairfax  Murray. — u  A  Pastoral" 

This  curious  Pre-Raphaelite  picture  represented  ten  richly  clad 
figures  seated  near  a  wood  in  a  glow  of  sunlight,  listening  to  one 
playing. 

W.  &  F.  Britten.— u  Che  Sara  Sara." 

G.  P.  Jacomb  Hood.—"  Una." 

R.  Spencer  Stanhope. — "  The  Shulamite." 

Especially  pre-Kaphaclite  in  arrangement. 

L.  Alma  Tadema.— "  A  Torch  Dance." 

A  very  singular  and  powerful  work. 

Walter  Crane. — "  The  Fate  of  Persephone." 

■  That  fair  field, 
Of  Enna,  where  Proserpine,  gathering  flowers, 
Herself  a  fairer  flower,  by  gloomy  Dis 
Was  gathered." Paradise  Lost. 

"The  Sirens." 

"  Europa." 

"  Truth  and  the  Traveller." 

"Man  sought  for  Truth,  and  cried,  *  Where  dost  thou  dwell ?' 
A  thousand  tongues  replied,  but  none  could  tell. 
He  seeks  no  more ;  the  very  stones  declare, 
And  Truth  sits  naked  by  the  wayside  well." 


28  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

Also  a  wonderfully  conceived  and  exquisitely  coloured  picture  in 
this  year's  gallery  of  an  Angel  stopping  the  hand  of  Fate. 

*'  Would  but  some  winged  angel,  ere  too  late, 
Arrest  the  yet  unfolded  roll  of  Fate, 
And  make  the  stern  recorder  otherwise 
Enregister,  or  quite  obliterate !" 

James  A.  M.  'Whistler. — 

The  names  of  a  few  only  of  the  works  uf  this  prolific  artist  can 
be  given,  but  enough  to  show  the  eccentric  affectation  he  displays 
in  the  selection  of  his  titles — an  affectation  which  has  probably 
brought  down  upon  him  more  ridicule  than  all  the  adverse  opinions 
of  the  critics  would  have  done. 

"  Arrangement  in  black  and  white," 

"  Harmony  in  blue  and  yellow." 

"  Nocturne  in  grey  and  gold." 

"  Variation  in  ilesh  colour  and  green." 

" The  Gold  GirL"     (Miss  Connie  Gilchrist) 

"  The  Pacific  ;  harmony  in  green  and  gold." 

"Note  in  blue  and  opal."    Jersey. 

"  Scherzo  in  blue."     A  portrait  of  a  girl  in  blue. 

But  why  a  Scherzo?  Certainly  Mr.  Whistler's  picture  does 
not  make  one  wish  to  see  them  often,  either  in  Nature 
or  Art;  whilst  some  of  the  other  paintings  make  one  wish 
one  could  clearly  see  anything  at  all  in  them,  as  in  his  nocturne 
in  black  and  gold,  and  nocturne  in  blue  and  silver,  both  of  which 
one  may  study  closely  without  perceiving  any  drift  in  the  com- 
positions, through  the  mist  which  overlays  them. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  /Esthetic  idea  of  the  correlation  of  the 
arts  is  carried  to  an  absurd  extent,  when  Mr.  Whistler  borrows  musi- 
cal terms  for  titles  for  his  paintings,  but  the  eccentricities  of  his 
nomenclature  are  as  nothing  compared  with  the  peculiarities  of  his 


THE  GROSVENOR  GALLERY.  29 

style  of  execution.  That  he  can  be  a  powerful  painter,  capable  of 
broad,  bold  effect,  is  fully  evidenced  by  the  portraits  he  occasionally 
exhibits ;  as,  for  instance,  that  of  Mrs.  II.  B.  Meux,  styled  "  Har- 
mony in  Flesh-colour  and  Pink,"  a  full-length  portrait  of  a  lady 
dressed  in  pearl-grey,  relieved  with  broad  bands  of  pink  silk. 
Here,  although  the  idea  given  is  that  the  painting  lacks  finish  and 
depth,  it  is  vigorous  and  effective,  and  one  can,  at  least,  understand 
the  artist's  conception.  No  doubt  Mr.  Whistler  would  consider 
that  persons  who  failed  to  grasp  the  poetical  ideas  contained  in  his 
two  nocturnes — those  in  "  Blue  and  Silver,"  and  in  "  Black  and 
Gold," — were  wanting  in  perception,  and  these  vwy  be  full  of  the 
deepest  meaning  and  most  exquisite  beauty,  but  to  the  ordinary 
observer,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  convey  no  tangible  idea  what- 
ever. 

That  there  are  many  frequenters  of  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  who 
talk  glibly  enough  about  this  school  and  that,  without  being  able 
to  describe  the  most  salient  features  of  any  one,  is  well  known. 
This  inability  may—  nay,  generally  does — arise  from  sheer  ignorance ; 
but  it  may  also  arise  from  the  extreme  difficulty  there  is  of  giving 
by  word-painting  a  reproduction  of  colour-painting.  It  is  even  so 
with  the  ^Esthetic  school  Let  anyone  who  is  interested  in  the  topic 
examine  works  painted  by  any  of  the  artists  here  enumerated  ;  he 
may,  or  may  not,  admire  them,  but  he  will  find  them  generally  of 
a  poetical,  romantic,  sad  or  weird  description,  with*  colour  and  tone 
far  more  emblematical  say,  of  autumnal  tints,  than  of  any  other 
robe  Lady  Nature  usually  decks  herself  in.  Let  him  then  compare 
these  works  with  the  archly  humorous  conceptions  of  Carl  Schloesser 
for  example,  instinct  with  life  and  character,  and  he  will  at  once 
see  in  what  the  difference  consists.  Take  the  two  pictures  he  ex- 
hibited last  year,  namely,  "The  Finishing  Touch"  and  "The 
Singing  Lesson  ;"  or,  better  still,  "  An  Intermezzo,"  a  small  picture 
in  this  year's  Grosvenor  Gallery,  and  if  the  observer  have  any  love 
for  art,  he  will  be  thankful  that  whilst  pre- Raphael itic,  or  ^Esthetic, 
or  Impressionist  pictures  are  vory  numerous  and  prominent,  there 
is  still  room  for  paintings  of  a  more  lively,  and  it  must  be  confessed, 


30  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

of  a  more  healthy  and  natural  tone.  Each  style  is  charming  in 
its  turn ;  each  serves  a  purpose,  and  each  acts  as  a  foil  to  show 
off  the  beauties  and  merits  of  the  other. 

For  book  illustrations  the  names  of  Walter  Crane,  Kate  Green- 
away,  and  K.  Caldecott  are  justly  held  in  high  esteem,  but 
many  who  admire  the  charming  pictures  produced  by  these  artists 
forget  that  the  beauty  is  mainly  the  result  of  the  purely  .Esthetic 
style  adopted  in  the  dresses,  attitudes  and  surroundings  of  the 
figures. 

Xor,  whilst  we  afe  considering  book  illustrators,  must  J.  Moyr 
Smith  be  omitted,  f*  The  Wooing  of  the  Water  Witch,*  "  Theseus," 
and  "  The  Prince'  of  Argolis,"  contain  hundreds  of  charming 
studies,  insiinct  wit^i  life,  beauty  and  delicate  culture. 


^gTKE¥IC    CULTURE. 


ROM  the  consideration  of  the  painters  who  are  known 
either  as  Pre-Raphaelitcs,  Impressionists,  or  ^Esthetes, 
we  pass  naturally  to  the  poetical  division  of  the 
./Esthetic  School,  in  which  lies  its  principal  strength, 
in  so  far  as  it  has  affected  the  general  public  and 
the  press. 

We  must  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  what  are  its  most 
prominent  features  and  general  characteristics. 

First,  and  above  all  other  considerations,  the  leaders  of  the 
^Esthetic  School  in  poetry  have  been  styled  fleshly  poets,  delighting 
in  somewhat  sensually-suggestive  descriptions  of  the  passions, 
ornamented  with  hyperbolical  metaphor,  or  told  in  curious  archaic 
speech  ;  and  dressed  up  in  quaint  medieval  garments  of  odd  old 
ballad  rhymes  and  phrases. 

The  strict  ^Esthete  admires  only  what  in  his  language  is  known 
as  intense,  and  what  Ruskin  somewhat  gushingly  terms  the  "  blessed 
and  precious"  in  art 

Now,  Henry  Irving,  the  actor,  is  undeniably  intense,  and  they 
worship  him  ;  indeed,  one  fair  votary  of  the  sunflower  goddess  was 
heard  to  remark  that  his  loft  leg  was  a  poem  in  itself.  So  also  is 
Ellen  Terry  intense.  She  is  held  in  the  highest  admiration  ;  and 
Oscar  Wilde,  the  idyllic  poet  (of  whom  more  anon),  after  praising 
Irving,  addresses  her  in  the  following  lines  : — 

'*  I  marvel  not  Bassanio  was  so  bold 

To  peril  all  he  had  upon  the  lead, 
Or  that  proud  Aragon  bent  low  his  head. 
Or  that  Morocco's  fiery  heart  grew  cold  : 
For  in  that  gorgeous  dress  of  beaten  gold, 


32  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

Which  is  more  golden  than  the  golden  sun, 

No  woman  Veronese  looked  upon 

Wat  half  so  fair  as  thou  whom  I  behold. 
Yet  fairer  when  with  wisdom  as  your  shield 

The  sober-suited  lawyer's  gown  yon  donned, 
And  would  not  let  the  laws  of  Venice  yield 

Antonio's  heart  to  that  accursed  Jew — 

O  Portia !  take  my  heart :  it  is  thy  due  : 
I  think  I  will  not  quarrel  with  the  Bond." 

He  has  aL  o  another  ode,  still  more  impassioned,  on  her  assump- 
tion of  the  part  of  Cam  ma  in  Tennyson's  tragedy,  "  The  Cup,"  itself 
a  lovely  poem  which  was  presented  to  the  public  in  a  magnificent 
setting,  as  only  such  a  priceless  jewel  should  have. 

"  As  one  who  poring  on  a  Grecian  urn 

Scans  the  fair  shapes  some  Attic  hand  hath  made. 

liod  with  slim  goddess,  goodly  mau  with  maid, 
And  for  their  beauty's  sake  is  loth  to  turn 
And  face  the  obvious  day,  must  I  not  yearn 

For  many  a  secret  moon  of  indolent  bliss, 

When  in  the  midmost  shriue  of  Artemis, 
I  see  thee  standing,  antique-limbed,  and  stern  f 

Indeed,  it  is  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre  that  JEstheticism  in  all  its 
beauty  can  best  be  seen.  The  recent  revival  of  "Romeo  and 
Juliet"  was  the  most  exquisite  rendering  of  that  sweet  poem  that 
has  ever  been  presented,  and  although  differences  of  opinion  existed 
with  regard  to  Mr.  Irving's  impersonation  of  Romeo,  it  was  univer- 
sally admitted  that  Juliet  never  had  a  fairer,  more  charming,  or 
more  talented  representative  than  Miss  Ellen  Terry.  Whilst  as 
to  the  dresses,  scenery,  and  grouping,  they  were  simply  perfect,  and 
carried  the  mind's  eye  back  to  mediaeval  Italy ;  indeed,  every  group 
seemed  as  if  it  had  just  started  from  the  canvas  of  one  of  the  early 
Italian  masters. 

So,  too,  in  *'  Much  Ado  about  Nothing,"  now  being  performed ; 
every  accessory  seems  perfect,  every  detail  fitted  to  the  place  it 
occupies  in  the  one  grand  design  ;  whilst  admirers  of  Irving  and 
Miss  Terry  now  see  them  in  parts  more  suited  to  their  ages  and 
styles  than  were  the  youthful  Romeo  and  Juliet. 


-ESTHETIC  CULTURE.  33 

In  music  the  ^Esthetes  affect  Liszt,  Rubinstein,  and  Wagnerywho.. 
are  all  most  consummately  intense. 

The  realism  which  has  long  since  taken  a  firm  hold  of  painting 
and  poetry  seems  destined,  ere  long,  to  find  another  sphere  of 
action  in  the  Opera.  Borneo  and  Juliet,  speaking  and  acting  as 
Shakespear  makes  them  do,  have  a  firm  hold  upon  our  sympathies 
and  our  faith,  for  we  all  know  that  mortals  may  so  have  spoken  and 
acted.  But  in  the  opera  of  "  Borneo  and  Juliet n  (as  set  forth  even 
by  such  an  exquisite  artist  as  Gounod),  expressing  their  loves  and 
their  sorrows  in  beautiful  tunes,  singing  as  loudly  as  they  can  over 
the  footlights  in  competition  with  the  orchestra,  no  longer  appear 
artistic  in  any  other  sense  than  the  artificial,  and  (coubl  we  for  a 
moment  ignore  the  music)  present  a  spectacle  as  ludicrous  and  in- 
congruous as  does  the  "Traviata,"  who,  but  a  moment  before  her  death 
from  wasting  consumption,  sings  branira  passages  which  would 
sorely  try  the  lungs  of  the  most  healthful. 

This  is  the  chasm  between  conventional  opera  and  natural  truth, 
which  Wagner  has  attempted  to  bridge  over. 

He  abandons  the  imbecility  of  making  people  communicate  with 
each  other  in  set  airs,  and  of  subordinating  sense  to  melody  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  matters  little  to  the  audience  what  nonsense  is 
sung,  so  long  as  the  music  is  beautiful,  and  the  voice  well  produced. 
He  transfers  the  emotional  utterances  to  the  orchestra,  and  makes 
his  personages  declaim  their  sentiments  m  noble  recitative,  while 
the  "  motive"  of  each  is  hinted  by  nvid  recurrent  phrases  from  the 
instruments.  He  disuses  concerted  singing,  only  introducing  an 
occasional  chorus,  under  conditions  which  might  possibly  occur, 
sueh  as  the  joyous  jangling  of  the  maidens  at  the  opening  of  the 
third  act  of  the  Walkyrie,  or  a  duet  when  the  joint  ecstasy  of  two 
individuals  prompts  common  utterance,  as  in  the  first  meeting  of 
Siegfried  and  Briinhilde.  He  prefers  myth  to  historical  subject,  for 
the  logical  reason  that  extraordinary  and  supernatural  beings  are 
not  to  be  judged  by  human  standards  of  opinion,  and  may  properly 
be  supposed  to  conduct  themselves  in  ways  which  would  be  very 
inappropriate  to  ordinary  men  and  women. 

D 


34  THE  ifSTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

la  painting,  the  Esthetes  have  a  great  veneration  for  Allesandro 
Botticelli,  a  Florentine  artist,  who  flourished  about  four  centuries 
ago,  and  of  whom  Ruskin  has  written  the  praises. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  at  the  sale  of  the  Hamilton  Palace 
collection,  last  June,  a  picture  by  Sandro  Botticelli  was  the  cause 
of  a  most  exciting  competition.     This  was  "  The  Assumption  of 
the  Virgin,"   painted  for  the   Church  of   San   Pietro   Maggiore, 
Florence,  on  the  commission  of  Matteo  Palmieri.     The  work  is  on 
a  thick  panel,  size  147 \  inches  by  89  inches.     This  was  put  up  at 
a  thousand  guineas,  and  eventually  secured  by  Mr.  Burton,  for  the 
National  Gallery,  at  the  enormous  sum  of  £4,777  10s.  ;  as,  how- 
ever, it  is  unmistakably  genuine,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important 
examples  of  a  somewhat  rare  master,  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  know 
that  it  is  now  public  property.     At  the  same  sale  several  other 
works  by  the  early  Italian  masters  most  in  favour  with  modern 
^Esthetes  also  fetched  very  high  prices,  as,  for  instance,  another 
work    by   Botticelli,   entitled,   "  The   Adoration    of    the  Magi  ;" 
Giorgione's  glowingly-coloured  "  Story  of  Myrrha;"  an  upright  panel 
painted  with  figures  of  Vestals  in  monochrome,  by  Andrea  Mantegna; 
and  a  carefully-executed  portrait  of  a  gentleman,  attributed  in  the 
catalogue  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  were  all  acquired  for  the  National 
Gallery,  at  the  respective  prices  of  1,550,  1,350,  1,700,  and  500 
guineas. 

In  architecture  the  Queen  Anne  style  is  favoured  by  the 
^Esthetes ;  and  on  the  really  beautiful  Bedford  Park  Estate,  one 
of  the  chosen  homes  of  the  "  select,"  only  houses  built  after  this 
manner  are  permitted  to  be  erected. 

Chippendale  furniture,  dados,  old-fashioned  brass  and  wrought 
iron  work,  medieval  lamps,  stained  glass  in  small  squares,  aud  old 
china  are  all  held  to  be  the  outward  and  visible  signs  of  an  inward 
and  spiritual  grace  and  intensity.  Let  a  jaded  City  man,  if  he  have 
an  eye  for  the  beautiful,  only  walk  three  minutes  off  'Change,  and 
in  Dashwood  House,  Old  Broad  Street,  he  will  find  a  cool,  shady 
retreat,  where  he  can  admire  at  his  leisure  one  of  the  finest  stair- 
cases in  London,  decorated  with  a  charming  dado,  Minton's  tiles, 


ESTHETIC  CULTURE.  35 

and  lit  by  some  stained-glass  windows,  of  exquisite  colouring,  put 
in  by  Pitman  and  Son.  Or,  if  he  can  only  take  an  hour's  ride,  let 
him  visit  the  Sanatorium,  recently  built,  at  an  enormous  expense, 
by  Mr.  Thomas  flolloway,  at  Virginia  Water,  and  there  study  the 
decorative  wall  paintings,  by  J.  Moyr  Smith,  especially  those 
representing  Hhiory,  Legend,  and  Epic  Poetry,  and  having  studied 
these,  let  him  ask  himself  whether  such  work  could  have  been 
produced,  or  would  have  been  appreciated,  forty  years  ngo. 

Now,  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  on  that  in  much  of  this 
there  is  visible  not  only  a  real  lore  of  1he  l>eautifuly  but  also  that 
the  wonderful  improvements  which  have  been  so  eagerly  seized 
upon  by  the  general  public  during  the  last  few  years  originated 
amongst  the^Esthetes,  whom  the  vulgar  herd  think  it  witty  and 
clever  to  abuse,  or  to  ridicule.    Soft  draperies  of  quiet,  sober,  yet 
withal  delicate  and   harmonious  tints,   have  replaced  the  heavy, 
gaudy  curtains  of  yore;  bevilled  mirrors  with  black  frames  slightly 
relieved  with  gold,  have  driven  out  the  large  old  plate  glasses,  with 
sham,  but  expensive  gold  frames ;  plain  painted  walls,  of  soft  tints, 
show  up  our  pictures  far  better  than  the  old  fashioned  papers  which, 
pasted  one  over  another,  became  the  haunt  of  the  agile  flea,  or  still 
more  objectionable  but  less  lively  insect  alwmi nations.     But  why 
the  sunflower,  the  lily,  and  the  peacock's  feather  have  become  so 
closely  identified  with  the  movement  is  not  easy  to  explain  ;  certain 
it  is  they  appear  to  be  as  distinctively  the  badges  of  the  true  /Esthete 
as  the  green  turban  is  amongst  Mahommedans  the  sign  that  the 
wearer  has  accomplished  a  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  place.     In  these 
minor  details,  I  believe  the  examples  of  D.  G.  Rossctti,  and  more 
recently  of  Oscar  Wilde,  have  had  considerably  influence. 

Oxford,  it  must  bo  remembered,  was  the  scene  of  some  of  the  first 
labours  of  tho  P.  It  Brotherhood,  and  the  name  of  nearly  every 
distinguished  member  of  the  new  school  has-  been  associated  with 
that  city  Thomas  Woolner  had  placed  a  statue  of  Lord  Bacon 
in  the  Oxford  University  Museum  in  1856,  and  in  1857  Dante 
Gabriel  Rossetti  was  employed  to  paint  the  fnscoes  in  the  Oxford 
Union  HalL     In  this  work,  although  he  was  associited  with  five 

D  2 


36  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IX   ENGLAND. 

other  artists,  he  was  the  only  P.  R.  R  amongst  them.  The 
strange  shadowy  frescoes  around  the  interior  of  the  Union  Cupola 
are  now  rapidly  fading  into  nothingness,  for  the  youths  who 
painted  them  had  no  practical  training  in  mural  painting  ;  they  used 
no  vehicle  for  their  colours,  nor  did  they  prepare  the  walls  to  receive 
them,  and  the  result  has  been  that  their  interesting  boyish  efforts 
are  now  decayed  beyond  any  cliance  of  restoration.  "  The  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Magazine,"  which  was  in  progress  at  the  same  time, 
contained  many  poems  and  articles  by  Rossetti  and  his  friends, 
William  Morris  and  Burne  Jones.  This  magazine  ran  to  twelve 
monthly  numbers ;  a  complete  set  of  it  being  of  course  very  scarce, 
as  all  such  works  become  immediately  the  public  learn  that  they 
contain  the  early  contributions  of  men  afterwards  famous.  John 
Kuskin  was  a  distinguished  scholar  and  prizeman  at  *  that 
University,  as  were  also  A.  C.  Swinburne  and  Oscar  Wilde,  beside* 
those  already  enumerated  in  preceding  notes.  Thus  E.  Burne-Jones 
and  William  Morris  were  undergraduates  at  Oford  when  Rossetti 
was  painting  the  frescoes  in  the  Union,  and  it  was  mainly  through 
his  influence  that  they  adopted  their  respective  artistic  roles. 

Constantly  yearning  for  the  intense,  the  language  of  the  ./Esthete* 
is  tinged  with  somewhat  exaggerated  metaphor,  and  their  adjectives 
are  usually  superlative— as  supreme,  consummate,  utter,  quite  too 
preciously  sublime,  &c.  For  some  of  this  mannerism  of  speech 
Mr.  Ruskin's  writings  have  to  answer;  but  the  words  he  uses  as 
applied  to  grand  works  of  art  sound  ludicrous  enough  when  debased 
by  being  applied  to  the  petty  uses  of  every-day  small  talk. 

So  far  we  have  dealt  with  the  outer  characteristics — those,  indeed, 
which  being  most  visible,  have  been  most  ridiculed,  and  nowhere  more 
cleverly  than  in  Patience,  where  Bunthorne  thus  sums  them  up,  in 
lines  full  of  humour,  and  yet  without  theslightest  particleof  malice : 

*'If  you're  anxious  for  to  shine  in  the  high  .Esthetic  lute  as  a  man  of  culture 

rare, 
You  must  get  up  all  the  germs  of  the  transcendental  terms,  and  plant  them 

everywhere. 
You  must  lie  upon  the  daisies  and  discourse  in  novel  phrases  of  your  com- 

plicated  state  of  mind, 
The  spoiling  doesn't  matter,  if   its  only  iille  chatter  of  a  transcendental 

kiml. 


itSTHETIC  CULTURE.  3* 

"  Be  eloquent  in  praise  of  the  very  dull  old  days  which  have  long  since  passed 

away, 
And  convince  'cm,  if  you  can,  that  the  reign  of  good  Queen  Anne  was 

Culture's  palmiest  day. 
Of  course  you  will  i«toh-|»ooh,  whatever*  fresh  and  new,  and  declare  it's 

crude  and  mean, 
For  Art  stopped  short  in  the  cultivated  court  of  the  Empress  Josephine. 

"Then  a  sentimental  passion  of  a  vegetable  fashion  must  excite  your  languid 

spleen. 
An  attachment  a  la  Plato  for  a  bashful  young  potato,  or  a  not-too-French 

French  bean ! 
Though  the  Philistines  may  jostle,  you  will  rank  as  an  Apostle  in  the  high 

.-fcsthetic  band, 
If  you  walk  down  Piccadilly  with  a  poppy  or  a  lily  in  your  mediaeval 

hand." 

And  here  a  few  words  about  this  clever,  amusing,  and  most 
successful  opera,  which  contrasts  very  favourably  with  its  rival,  The 
Colonel,  in  being  entirely  original,  and  in  the  absence  from  its 
sprightly  and  humorous  dialogue  of  any  tinge  of  personal  spile  or 
malicious  misrepresentation  of  the  real  aims  of  pure  ^Estheticism. 

The  libretto  of  Patience,  or  Bunfhorne's  Brule,  written  by  Mr. 
W.  S.  Gilbert,  was  completed  in  November,  1880,  but  owing  to 
the  success  of  its  predecessor,  the  opera  was  not  produced  until 
Saturday,  April  23rd,  1881,  when  it  was  played  at  the  Opera 
Comique  Theatre,  under  the  personal  supervision  of  the  author, 
and  of  Mr.  Arthur  Sullivan,  the  composer  of  the  music,  which 
contains  some  of  the  most  bcaatiful  melodies  ever  heard  on  the 
English  lyric  stage.  From  that  time  until  November,  1882,  tho 
oj>cia  was  played  without  any  interruption,  although  it  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  Opera  Comique  to  the  Savcy  Theatre  on  October 
10th,  1881,  that  elegant  house  having  just  been  expressly  built 
by  Mr.  R.  D'Oyly  Carte,  for  the  representation  of  Gilbert  and 
Sullivan's  pieces.  On  that  occasion  Mr.  D'Oyly  Carte  presented  an 
address  to  the  public,  from  which  I  venture  to  quote  a  few 
paragraphs,  as  a  short  description  of  tho  theatre  may  be  of  interest 
to  some  few  who  are  unable  to  visit  it  in  person. 

HAVOY    THEATRE. 

*'  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — I  beg  leave  to  lay  before  you  some  details  of  a 
new  theatre,  which  I  have  caused  to  be  built,  with  the  intention  of  devoting  it 
to  the  representation  of  the  operas  of  Messrs   W   s  <;ill>crt  and  Arthur 


3S  THE  -ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

Sullivan,  with  whose  joint  productions  I  have,  up  to  now,  bad  the  advantage 
of  being  associated. 

"The  Savoy  Theatre  is  placed  between  the  Strand  and  the  Victoria  Em- 
bankment, and  is  built  on  a  spot  possessing  many  associations  of  historic 
interest,  being  close  to  the  Savoy  Chapel,  and  in  the  *  precinct  of  the 
Savoy,'  where  stood  formerly  the  Savoy  Palace,  once  inhabited  by  John  of 
Gaunt  and  the  Dukes  of  Lancaster,  and  made  memorable  in  the  Wars  of 
the  Roses.  On  the  Savoy  Manor  there  was  formerly  a  theatre.  I  have  used 
the  ancient  name  as  an  appropriate  title  for  the  present  one. 

"The  new  theatre  has  been  erected  from  the  designs  and  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  C.  J.  Phipps,  F.S.  A.,  who  has,  probably,  more  ex- 
perience in  the  building  of  such  places  than  any  architect  of  past  or  present 
times,  having  put  up,  I  believe,  altogether  33  or  34  theatres. 

44  The  facade  of  the  theatre  towards  the  Embankment  and  that  in 
Beaufort  Buildings  are  of  red  brick  and  Portland  stone.  The  theatre  is 
large  and  commodious,  but  little  smaller  than  the  Gaiety,  and  will  seat 
1,292  persons. 

"  I  think  I  may  claim  to  have  carried  out  some  improvements  deserving 
special  notice.  The  most  important  of  these  are  in  the  lightingand  decoration. 

44  From  the  time,  now  some  years  since,  that  the  first  electric  lights  in 
lamps  were  exhibited  outside  the  Paris  Opera  House,  I  have  been  convinced 
that  electric  light,  in  some  fonn,  is  the  light  of  the  future  for  use  in 
theatres,  not  to  go  further.  The  peculiar  steely  blue  colour  and  the  flicker, 
which  are  inevitable  in  all  systems  of  'arc'  lights,  however,  make  them 
unsuitable  for  use  in  any  but  very  large  buildings.  The  invention  of  the 
4 incandescent  lamp'  has  now  paved  the  way  for  the  application  of 
electricity  to  lighting  houses,  and,  consequently,  theatres. 

4  *  The  ■  arc  'light  is  simply  a  continuous  electric  spark,  and  is  nearly  the 
colour  of  lightning.  The  incandescent  light  is  produced  by  heating  a 
filament  of  carbon  to  a  white  heat,  and  is  much  the  colour  of  gas— a  little 
clearer.  Thanks  to  an  ingenious  method  of  •  shunting '  it,  the  current  is 
easily  controllable,  and  the  lights  can  be  raised  or  lowered  at  will.  The  new 
light  is  not  only  used  in  the  audience  part  of  the  theatre,  but  on  the  stage, 
for  footlights,  side  and  top-lights,  &c,  and  (not  of  the  least  importance  for 
the  comfort  of  the  performers)  in  the  dressing-rooms— in  fact,  in  every  part 
of  the  house.  This  is  the  first  time  that  it  has  been  attempted  to  light  any 
public  building  entirely  by  electricity.  The  greatest  drawbacks  to  the 
enjoyment  of  theatrical  performances  are,  undoubtedly,  the  foul  air  and 
heat  which  pervade  all  theatres.  As  everyone  knows,  each  gas-burner 
consumes  as  much  oxygen  as  many  people,  and  causes  great  heat  besides. 
The  incandescent  lamps  consume  no  oxygen,  and  cause  no  perceptible  heat. 
If  the  experiment  of  electric  lighting  succeeds,  there  can  be  no  question  of 


ESTHETIC  CULTURE.  39 

the  enormous  advantages  to  be  gained  in  purity  of  air,  and  coolness — 
advantages  the  value  of  which  it  is  hardly  possible  to  over-estimate. 

*'  The  decorations  of  this  theatre  are  by  Messrs.  Collinson  and  Lock. 

*'  I  venture  to  think  that,  with  some  few  exceptions,  the  interiors  of  most 
theatres  hitherto  built  have  been  conceived  with  little,  if  any,  artistic 
purpose,  and  generally  executed  with  little  completeness,  and  in  a  more  or 
less  garish  manner.  Without  adopting  cither  of  the  styles  known  as 
1  Queen  Anne,'  and  '  early  English  '  or  entering  upon  the  so-called 
'  esthetic  '  manner,  a  result  has  now  been  produced  which  I  feel  sure  will 
be  appreciated  by  all  persons  of  taste.  Paintings  of  cherubim,  muses, 
angels,  and  mythological  deities  have  been  discarded,  and  the  ornament 
consists  entirely  of  delicate  plaster  modelling,  designed  in  the  manner  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  main  colour-tones  are  white,  pale  yellow  and 
gold—  gold  used  only  for  backgrounds,  or  in  large  masses,  and  not — 
following  what  may  be  called,  for  want  of  *  worse  name,  the  gingerbread 
school  of  decorative  art— for  gilding  relief- work  or  mouldings.  The  back 
walls  of  the  boxes  and  the  corridors  are  in  two  tones  of  Venetian  red.  No 
painted  act-drop  is  used,  but  a  curtain  of  creamy  satin,  quilted,  having  a 
fringe  At  the  bottom,  and  a  vallance  of  embroidery  of  the  character  of 
Spanish  work,  keeps  up  the  consistency  of  the  colour  scheme.  This  curtain 
is  arranged  to  drape  from  the  centre.  The  stalls  are  covered  with  blue 
plush  of  an  inky  hue,  and  the  balcony  seats  are  of  stamped  velvet  of  the 
same  tint,  while  the  curtains  of  the  boxes  are  of  yellowish  silk,  brocaded 
with  a  pattern  of  decorative  flowers  in  broken  colour. 

"To  turn  to  a  very  different  subject:  I  believe  a  fertile  source  of 
annoyance  to  the  public  to  be  the  demanding  or  expecting  of  fees  and 
gratuities  by  attendants.  This  system  will,  therefore,  be  discountenanced. 
Programmes  will  be  furnished,  and  wraps  and  umbrellas  taken  charge  of 
gratuitously. 

"  The  Savoy  is,  I  think,  the  only  theatre  in  London  of  which  the  four  outer 
walls  stand  open,  and  in  four  thoroughfares.  There  are  exits  and  entrances 
on  all  four  sides,  giving  two  exits  from  every  part  of  the  house ;  most 
valuable  conditions  with  a  view  to  safety  from  fire  ;  and  it  is  calculated  that 
the  entire  audience  can  be  cleared  out  in  less  than  three  minutes.  The 
passages  and  staircases  are  of  fire-resisting  materials,  and  the  stage  is 
divided  from  the  front  by  a  solid  brick  wall,  extending  from  the  ground  to 
above  the  roof.  It  may  be  noted  that  this  is  the  first  theatre  which  has 
been  built  under  the  new  Act  of  1878,  and  under  the  new  regulations  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works,  which  are  especially  directed  to  the 
prevention  of  accidents  by  fire,  and  are  most  stringent. 

••  R.  D'Otlt  Cabte." 


40  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

Ill  April,  1882,  the  anniversary  of  the  production  of  Patience  was 
celebrated  at  the  Savoy  Theatre  by  some  special  ceremonies.  Mr. 
Arthur  Sullivan  conducted  the  orchestra  ;  bouquets  were  presented 
to  the  ladies  of  the  audience  in  all  parts  of  the  theatre,  and  there 
were  new  costumes  on  the  stage,  and  an  increased  chorus.  After 
the  performance  members  of  the  audience  who  were  curious 
regarding  the  details  of  the  electric  lighting  of  the  stage  were  per- 
mitted, on  presenting  their  cards,  to  pass  behind  the  scenes.  A 
circular  issued  by  the  manager  gave  the  following  statistical  account 
of  the  career  of  this  extraordinarily  popular  opera: — 

"  During  this  time  the  opera  has  beeii  played  under  my  management  361 
times  in  London,  323  times  ou  -aide  Loudon  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
180  times  in  New  York,  besides  110  times  in  America  outside  New  York, 
making  a  total  of  977  times  in  all.  It  is  calculated  that  not  less  than 
870,200  persons  have  paid  to  see  the  opera,  and  the  sum  of,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  £138,000  has  been  received  for  admissions.  These  figures  do  not 
include  performances  in  Australia,  of  which  no  return  has  yet  been  received, 
nor  unauthorized  performances  in  America." 

The  caste  of  "  Patience  "  was  little  altered  from  the  first  production 
of  the  opera  in  London  to  its  close.  Mr.  George  Grossmith  was  still 
the  "  fleshly  poet,'f  Reginald  Bunthorue  ;  the  graceful  idyllic  poet, 
Archibald  Grosvenj)r,  being  portrayed  to  the  last  by  Mr.  Rutland 
Harrington,  whilst  ^he  parts  of  Patience  and  ef  the  massive  Lady 
Jane  remained  in  the  hands  of  Miss  Leonora  Braham  and  Miss  Alice 
Barnett,  who  originally  created  them. 


P6E¥S   0F    THE    TKJSVflEVIG    scjieeL. 


HE  principal  poets  of  the  school  are  Dante  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  William  Michael  Rossetti,  Thomas  Woolncr, 
William  Morris.  Algernon  Charles  Swinburne,  Arthur 
O'Shanglinessy,  and  Oscar  Wilde.  Robert  Browning 
has  some  of  the  characteristics  of  /Kstheticism  in 
his  writings,  as  has  also  Walt  Whitman,  the 
American  poet ;  but  neither  of  these  is  generally  mentioned  as  of 
the  "  Inner  Brotherhood."  Tennyson's  poems,  especially  "  The 
Idylls,"  are  frequently  selected  for  illustration  by  ^Esthetic  artists. 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI. 

I  have  already  briefly  referred  to  the  career  of  this  distinguish<<l 
man,  and  the  position  he  took  in  the  early  days  of  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  (or  ^Esthetic)  movement 

Mr.  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  was  a  painter  and  a  poet,  about  whom 
during  his  life  much  curiosity  was  felt ;  he  seldom  exhibited  his 
paintings,  he  was  not  met  in  public  places,  and  what  was 
known  about  him  appeared  mystic,  sad,  and  romantic.  Air.  Hall 
Caine,  a  friend  of  the  last  few  years  of  his  life,  has  recently 
published  his  recollections  of  the  poet-painter,  and  the  work  is 
likely  to  be  widely  read.  It  will  but  intensify  the  feeling  of 
melancholy  engendered  by  the  man  and  his  works,  for  it  shows  the 
waste  of  power  and  the  loss  of  genius  with  which,  had  they  been 
better  disciplined,  Rossetti  might  have  fulfilled  in  maturity  tho 


42  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

brilliant  promise  of  his  youth.  In  1870  Rossetti  published  his  first 
volume  of  poems,  greeted  at  first  with  enthusiastic  applause,  to  be 
followed  by  a  bitter  controversy,  the  poet  remained  sadly  silent  for 
more  than  ten  years,  then  he  published  a  new  volume,  the  success  of 
which  lie  scarcely  lived  to  see. 

Before  he  came  of  age  Rossetti  had  done  more  than  any  one  man 
of  our  time  to  turn  Art  into  a  higher  road,  and  in  poetry  had  pro- 
duced some  remaikable,  if  immature,  works  full  of  fire  and  original 
genius.  But  whilst  still  a  comparatively  young  man,  there  fell  upon 
him  a  great  domestic  misfortune,  followed  by  years  of  grief  and 
sleeplessness.  Living  in  a  large,  gloom}'  house,  he  courted  solitude, 
and  sought  to  buy  sleep  in  chloral,  and  the  pernicious  drug  acquired 
a  complete  mastery,  his  ideas  became  distorted,  and  he  saw,  at  times 
none  but  enemies  in  those  who  were  his  best  friends.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  wonder  is  not  that  he  had  of  late  achieved  so  little, 
but  that  he  could  produce  any  real  art  work  at  all.  Slowly,  but 
surely,  his  constitution  gave  way,  his  friends  were  powerless  to  save 
him,  the  craving  for  the  drug  increased  as  time  went  by,  until  a 
stroke  of  paralysis  gave  an  opportunity  for  the  supply  of  chloral  to 
be  cut  oil*.  For  a  brief  period  his  sufferings  were  great,  but  when 
the  crisis  was  over  his  mind  had  recovered  its  equilibrium,  and  he 
was  no  longer  troubled  by  his  former  hallucinations. 

But  though  now  calm  in  mind,  and  free  from  the  tormenting 
craving  for  the  narcotic,  the  mischief  was  done,  and  he  gradually 
faded  away  into  death,  which  released  him  on  Easter  Sunday,  the 
Oth  of  April,  1832. 

His  connection  with  the  pre-Baphaelites,  with  the  "  The  Germ," 
and  his  contributions  to  it  have  been  mentioned  ;  of  his  paintings 
less  is  known,  since  for  some  reasons  not  explained,  he  seldom 
exhibited  them  in  public ;  suttice  it  to  say  that  they  were  eagerly 
sought  after,  and  highly  eulogised  by  connoisseurs  whose  taste  in 
such  matters  would  usually  be  accepted  as  decisive. 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  (or  more  correctly  Gabriel  Charles  Dante 
Rossetti)  was  born  in  Charlotte  Street,  Portland  Place,  London,  on 
May  12th,  1828,  being  the  eldest  son  of  G auricle  Rossetti,  and 


l*OETS  OF  THE  /ESTHETIC  SCHOOL  43 

brother  of  William  Michael  Kossetti,  the  art  critic,  and  of  Maria 
Francesca  and  Christina  G.  Kossetti,  both  well-known  poetesses. 

Gabriel©  Rossetti,  the  elder,  was  a  native  of  the  Abruzzi,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  and  was  early  distinguished  as  a  patriot  and 
poet,  but  being  implicated  in  the  Neapolitan  insurrectionary  troubles 
in  1820-21,  he  had  to  leave  his  position  at  the  Museo  I5orbonico, 
fly  his  native  country,  and  seek  refuge  in  England.  He  settled  in 
London  about  1823,  and  in  182G  married  Frances  Polidori,  daughter 
of  G.  Polidori,  formerly  secretary  to  Alfieri,  the  poet. 

Kossetti  was  appointed  Professor  of  Italian  at  King's  College, 
and  for  years  his  house  was  the  rendezvous  of  Italian  patriots  and 
refugees.  He  contributed  largely  to  Italian  literature,  his  researches 
into  the  life  and  writings  of  Dante  being  regarded  as  especially 
valuable,  although  his  speculations  on  Dante's  conceptions  gave 
rise  to  some  considerable  controversy.  He  died  in  1854,  too  early 
to  witness  the  freedom  and  unity  of  his  country,  for  which"ait~'his 
early  prospects  had  been  sacrificed.  Naturally,  young  Rossctti's 
early  education  was  received  at  King's  College,  and  having  from 
early  childhood  shown  a  decided  inclination  for  painting,  his  parents 
sensibly  fostered  and  encouraged  his  genius,  so  that  on  leaving 
King's  College,  about  1843,  he  was  sent  to  study,  first  at  an  art 
academy  near  Bedford  Square,  and  afterwards  at  the  Royal  Academy 
Antique  School,  never,  however,  going  to  the  Life  School  of  the 
Royal  Academy  ;  and  the  deficiencies  of  his  early  training  were 
apparent  throughout  his  career  as  an  artist,  especially  as  regards 
draughtsmanship. 

He  left  the  Royal  Academy  in  1849,  and  in  the  same  year  he 
exhibited  his  picture  of  the  Girlhootl  of  Mary  Virgin,  In  1846 
Mr.  Ford  Madox  Brown  exhibited  designs  in  the  Westminster 
Competition,  and  young  Rossetti  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the 
cartoons,  that  he  wrote  asking  to  be  permitted  to  become  a  pupil  of 
Mr.  Brown,  who  himself  was  but  a  few  years  the  senior  of  Rossetti. 

Although  Rossetti  did  not  long  continue  to  work  in  Mr.  Brown's 
studio,  the  two  became  lifo-long  friends,  and  Rossetti  always 
acknowledged  that  he  owed  much  in  art  to  the  influence  of  Mr. 


44  T11K  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

Brown,  whose  archaeological  tastes  harmonised  well  with  his  own  , 
hut  whilst  Kossetti  early  joined  enthusiastically  in  the  so-called 
pr>Kaphaelite  movement,  Mr.  Madox  Brown  did  not,  for  the  reason 
that  he  disapproved  of  cliques  and  coteries  in  art  Indeed  all  the 
artists  soon  departed  from  the  principles  of  exact  realism  (the  "  holy 
awkwardness  ")  they  had  laid  down  for  their  guidance,  with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  Mr.  Holman  Hunt 

The  recent  burning  of  the  Exhibition  Palace  in  Sydney  has 
probably  deprived  the  world  of  a  picture  which  might  be  described 
as  one  of  the  treasures  of  modern  English  art.  Mr.  Ford  Madox 
Brown's  celebrated  picture  of  "  Chaucer  reading  his  Poems  at  tbe 
Court  of  Edward  III."  was  lately  bought  for  the  National  Museum 
of  Sydney,  and  was  on  exhibition  in  the  building  which  has  been 
destroyed.  It  was  one  of  Mr.  Madox  Brown's  earliest  works,  and 
was  perhaps  the  first  great  embodiment  of  the  artistic  principle 
which  was  afterwards  called  Pre-Raphaelitism.  While  the  painter 
was  working  at  it,  his  studio  was  entered  for  the  first  time  by 
Dante  Kossetti.  Mr.  Rossetti  had  previously  written  to  Mr.  Brown, 
asking  to  be  allowed  to  become  his  pupil,  because  of  the  admiration 
he  felt  for  some  of  Mr.  Madox  Brown's  still  earlier  paintings. 
Kossetti  came  in  good  time,  for  Mr.  Brown  not  merely  accepted 
him  as  a  pupil,  but  made  his  face  the  model  for  that  of  the  principal 
figuro  in  the  picture.  The  head  of  the  Chaucer  is  believed  to  be 
the  only  really  good  portrait  of  Dante  Gabriel  Kossetti  that  was 
ever  taken.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  such  a  painting  should 
not  have  been  preserved  in  some  English  Gallery.  Apart  altogether 
from  its  striking  merits  as  a  work  of  art,  it  had  distinct  historical 
value  for  the  English  student  as  the  precursor  of  a  school  which 
has  undoubtedly  made  a  deep  mark  on  its  time. 

Rossetti's  "  The  Girlhood  of  Mary  Virgin  "  was  exhibited  at  the 
Portland  Gallery,  an  exhibitiou  in  rivalry  to  the  Koyal  Academy, 
which  existed  but  a  very  short  time.  He  did  not  again  exhibit  in 
public  until  about  1856,  when  he  and  his  friends  opened  a  small  col- 
lection of  theii  own  works  at  4,  Russell-place,  Fitzroy-sviuare.  The 
principal  contributors  to  this  interesting  collection  were  Millais, 
Holman  Hunt,  Madox  Brown,  J.  D.  Watson,  and  W.  B.  Scott 


POETS  OF  THE   ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  45 

In  1857,  whilst  engaged  on  the  Union  frescoes,  Rossetti  became 
acquainted  with  Burne  Jones,  Swinburne,  and  William  Morris,  all, 
at  that  time,  Oxford  undergraduates.  E.  Burne  Jones  was  intended 
for  a  clerical  career,  but,  mainly  at  the  instigation  of  Rossetti,  he 
abandoned  that  profession  to  become  a  painter,  and  by  his  works  to 
add  lustre  and  distinction  to  the  movement  initiated  by  Rossetti. 
Some  years  later  "Mr.  K  B.  Jones  and  Rossetti,  Madox  Brown,  and 
a  few  others,  associated  with  William  Morris  in  establishing  the 
now  well-known  art  firm  of  Morris  and  Co.,  remaining  partners  in 
that  enterprise  until  about  1874,  when  a  dissolution  took  place, 
leaving  the  business  in  the  hands  of  the  gentleman  whose  name 
it  bore,  and  whose  abilities  had  made  it  a  success. 

With  an  hereditary  love  for  Dante,  some  of  Rossetti's  best  work 
as  an  artist  derived  its  inspiration  from  the  "  Vita  Nuova,"  but  in  the 
usual  acceptance  of  the  word,  his  paintings  could  never  be  popular. 
Mystical  representations  of  unfamiliar  poetry,  and  weird,  out-of-the- 
way  legends  will  interest  only  a  few  romantic  persons  who  are 
initiated  into  the  strange  symbolism  of  such  art. 

A.  C.  Swinburne,  in  his  notes  on  the  Academy  pictures  in  1868, 
said  :  — "  The  present  year  has  other  pictures  to  be  proud  of,  not  sub- 
mitted to  the  loose  and  slippery  judgments  of  an  Academy,"  and 
after  describing  one  by  Whistler,  he  adds  : — 

"  It  is  well  known  that  the  painter  of  whom  I  now  propose  to  speak  has 
never  suffered  exclnsion  or  acceptance  at  the  hands  of  any  Academy.  It  is 
not  less  well  known  that  his  work  must  always  hold  its  place  as  second  in 
significance  and  value  to  no  work  done  by  any  English  painter  of  his  time. 
Among  the  many  great  works  of  Mr.  D.  G.  Rossetti,  I  know  of  none  greater 
than  his  two  latest  These  are  types  of  sensual  beauty  and  spiritual,  the  siren 
and  the  sibyl,  ■  Lady  Lilith,'  and  *  Sibylla  Palmifera.*  " 
These,  and  several  other  paintings  he  enumerates,  were  afterwards 
set  to  music,  so  to  s]>eak,  in  poems  written  by  D.  G.  Rossetti. 

One  of  the  models  who  sat  to  him  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Eleanor 
Siddal,  a  young  lady  of  singular  personal  beauty,  with  a  natural 
genius  for  painting,  and  a  cultivated  taste  for  poetry.  Before  long 
the  lady  became  as  much  a  pupil  as  a  model,  kindred  tastes  led  to 
friendship  and  to  love,  and  in  1860  they  were  married,  but  their 
happiness  was  of  short  duration. 


46  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

It  has  been  noticed  as  a  strange  and  painful  coincidence  that 
both  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  and  his  wife  died  prematurely  from 
the  effects  of  opiates. 

After  the  birth  of  a  still-born  child,  Mrs.  Rossetti  fell  into  ill- 
health  and  suffered  acutely  from  neuralgia.  To  soothe  the  pain 
and  get  sleep,  she  would  take  some  preparation  of  opium — chloral 
was  not  then  the  fashionable  drug  it  has  since  become.  One  even- 
ing, Mr.  Rossetti,  returning  from  some  engagement,  was  glad  to 
find  that  his  wife  had  retired  for  the  night  and  was  asleep.  He 
moved  quietly  about  the  room,  so  as  not  to  disturb  her.  After  a 
while,  he  grew  troubled  at  the  stillness  of  her  sleep,  and,  bending 
over  her  he  spoke  to  her.  His  voice  did  not  rouse  her ;  and  he 
discovered  that  she  was  insensible.  A  doctor,  called  in  in  a  hurry, 
applied  all  possible  remedies.  It  was  too  late.  Mrs.  Rossotti 
never  recovered  consciousness  ;  she  had  taken  an  overdose  of  opium, 
and  died  of  its  effects.  This  was  in  1862,  after  two  years  only  of 
married  life. 

The  poet-painter  felt  bitterly  the  death  of  one  whose  beauty 
inspired  some  of  his  most  notable  works  (as,  for  instance,  the  wood- 
cut illustrations  to  Tennyson's  poems),  and  whose  artistic  gifts 
made  her  a  sympathetic  helpmate.  He  fell  for  a  while  into  a  state 
of  profound  melancholy,  and  refusing  to  be  known  as  a  poet,  when 
lie  could  not  share  his  fame  with  her,  he  buried  in  her  coffin  the 
MS.  of  his  as  yet  unpublished  poems. 

When  quite  a  young  man,  it  is  true,  he  had  contributed  several 
short  poems  of  great  promise  to  The  Genu,  and  in  1861,  he  pub- 
lished a  work  entitled  "  The  Early  Italian  Poets,"  which  contained 
a  translation  of  Dante's  Vita  Nuova  ;  this  was  republished  in  1874 
with  some  alterations  under  the  title  of  M  Dante  and  his  Circle." 

There  is  also  in  the  library  of  the  British  Museum  a  curious  little 

work,  entitled — 

SIR  HUGH  THE  HERON. 
A  Legendary  Tale  in  Fors  Parts,  by  Gabriel  Rossetti,  Jrs. 

"  Sir  II ugh  the  Heron  bold, 
Baron  of  Twisell,  and  of  Ford, 
And  Captain  of  the  Hold." 

Stott*s  Ma  run' on,  Canto  1. 


POETS  OF  THE  ^ESTHETIC  SCHOCJL.  47 

This  bears  the  imprint,  "  London,  1843.  G.  Polidori's  Private 
Press,  15,  Park  Village  East,  Regent's  Park.  For  private  circula- 
tion." At  that  time  young  Rossetti  amused  himself  with  attempts 
at  poetry,  and  his  grandfather  Polidori,  who  had  set  up  an  amateur 
printing  press  in  his  own  house  printed  off  some  copies  of  the 
poem  in  question,  having  a  much  higher  opinion  of  it  than  the 
author  had  in  after  years,  when  he  was  somewhat  annoyed  to  find 
that  a  few  copies  were  actually  in  circulation  and  eagerly  sought 
after  by  collectors  of  literary  curiosities. 

More  than  seven  years  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  when  time 
had  somewhat  soothed  his  sorrow,  and  lessened  his  deep  sense  of 
bereavement,  he  was  prevailed  upon  by  the  entreaties  of  his  friends 
to  recover  the  lost  poems.  After  some  preliminary  trouble  he  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  Home  Secretary  to  have  the  grave  in  Highgate 
Cemetery  opened.  The  manuscript  was  found  in  the  coffin  but 
little  injured,  and  very  shortly  afterwards  his  first  rolume,  simply 
entitled  "  Poems,"  was  published,  and  at  once  came  into  favour, 
seven  editions  being  issued  in  rapid  succession,  a  result  which  must 
in  part,  no  doubt,  be  attributed  to  popular  curiosity  with  regard  to 
the  author,  and  the  connection  he  was  known  to  have  with  the 
Pre-Rapluelite  school.  In  many  of  the  high-class  Reviews,  the  poems 
were  at  first  enthusiastically  received,  but  it  was  not  long  before 
they  were  brought  before  the  public  in  a  manner  perhaps  more 
prominent  than  pleasant,  owing  to  the  virulent  attacks  made  upon 
them  by  a  certain  class  of  critics  whose  fastidious  prudery  led 
them  to  republish  extracts  from  his  works  with  a  lewd  suggestive- 
ness  of  purpose  never  intended  by  the  author.  His  second  volume, 
"  liallads  and  Sonnets,"  was  published  by  Ellis  and  White  in 
1881. 

He  hai  lived  for  some  years  past  in  comparative  seclusion,  and 
owing  to  this  and  a  certain  strangeness  of  manner,  an  impression  had 
gone  abroad  that  his  intellect  was  affected.  This,  however,  was  not 
the  case,  bat  Mr.  Rossetti  had,  for  a  long  period,  suffered  from 
.  habitual  sleeplessness — a  terrible  affliction  which  often  visits  men 
whose  brain  power  has  been  severely  taxed — and  the  remedy  he 


48  THE  jESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

tried,  namely  chloral,  whilst  it  gave  him  some  sort  of  temporary 
relief,  was,  in  the  long  run,  far  worse  than  the  original  evfl. 

He  died  quietly  and  calmly  on  Easter  Sunday  last,  at  Birchington, 
near  Margate,  retaining  his  intellect  to  the  last  Though  his  father 
was  an  Italian,  and  his  mother  of  Italian  extraction,  it  is  said  that 
D.  G.  Rossetti  never  visited  tliat  country,  yet  his  works  are  suffused 
with  the  sunny  glow  of  the  southern  clime,  and  instinct  with  the 
life  and  fire  of  Roman  art.  In  the  foremost  rank  of  our  modern 
painters,  and  as  a  poet  unequalled  in  a  certain  genre  of  his  own 
(for  some  of  his  sonnets  are  near  perfection),  ihe  world  of  art  and 
letters  will  long  lament  the  loss  of  Rossetti. 

He  was  followed  to  his  grave  in  the  quiet  little  churchyard  of 
Birchington  hy  his  mother,  his  sister  Miss  Christina  Rossetti,  the 
poetess,  his  brother  Mr.  William  Michael  Rossetti,  and  a  number 
of  literary  and  artistic  friends  ;  Mr.  E.  Bume-Jones,  who  was  to 
have  attended,  was  taken  so  ill  on  his  way  to  the  ceremony  that  he 
was  obliged  to  return  home. 

A  writer  in  the  Standard  recently  summed  up  his  career  in  an 
appreciative  notice,  from  which  I  take  the  following  : — 

"  It  was  not  till  1870  that  he  sanctioned  the  appearance  in  a  volume  of 
the  compositions  which  had  for  a  long  while  been  the  delight  of  his  friends. 
He  displayed  a  similar  reserve  in  the  exercise  of  his  art  as  painter.  With 
the  single  exception,  we  believe,  of  his  picture  of  "Dante's  Dream,"  pur- 
chased by  the  Liver i>ool  Picture  (Jallery,  none  of  his  canvases  were  exhibited 
to  the  common  eye.  He  sold  them  by  private  arrangement  to  his  acquaint- 
ances, and  he  had  singularly  few,  if  any,  transactions  with  dealers.  Yet. 
though  the  field  of  display  which  he  allowed  himself  was  so  severely 
limited,  the  area  of  his  influence  was  large.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  he 
might  be  called  a  born  leader  of  men.  He  Mas  full  of  an  enthusiasm  that 
speedily  communicated  itself  to  those  around  him.  He  had  great  conver- 
sational and  even  oratorical  gifts.  His  voice  was  full  and  sweet,  and 
his  manner,  when  he  chose,  exceedingly  attractive.  "Whatever  effeminacy 
some  critics  might  detect  in  his  poetry  or  his  pictures,  his  presence 
was  robust,  manly,  and,  in  many  respects,  typically  English.  There 
has,  perhaps,  never  been  such  an  instance  of  a  man  qualified  to  win  a  really 
high  place  in  contemporary  Art  and  Letters  Mho  so  persistently,  as  far  as 
the  outer  world  was  concerned,  concealed  his  light  under  a  bushel.     As  a 


POETS  OF  THE  ^ESTHETIC    SCHOOL.  49 

poet,  Rossctti  is,  and  from  the  first  day  that  he  began  to  write  was,  essen- 
tially picturesque.  As  a  painter,  he  began  by  being  singularly  unpic- 
turesqne.  The  frescoes  with  which  he  decorated  the  Oxford  Union  are  a 
marked  advance  in  this  direction  upon  any  of  his  previous  works ;  they  are 
also,  perhaps,  the  best-known  specimens  of  his  artistic  skill  The  designs 
may  be  charged  with  a  mystical  meaning  of  their  own,  which  only  the 
esoteric  worshippers  of  the  artist  can  fully  appreciate.  But  they  possess, 
also,  indisputably  that  attribute  of  picturesqueness  which  was  partially  ab- 
sent from  his  earlier  efforts.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  their  com- 
pletion was  an  event  both  in  Modern  Letters  and  Art.  They  probably 
impressed  the  imagination  of  Mr.  William  Morris  and  Mr.  Bu  me-  J  ones— 
then  undergraduates  at  Oxford  ;  they  lent  not  a  little  assistance  to  that 
school  of  poetic  thought  which  may  be  best  associated  with  the  name  of 
Mr.  Swinburne." 

Mr.  G.  A.  Sala  (who  has  always  a  kindly  word  to  say,  and  an 
eloquent  way  of  saying  it,  about  his  brother  ttWratenr*,)  had  known 
him  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  speaks  of  him  as  intellectually  one 
of  the  most  gifted  of  men  ;  personally  gentle,  amiable,  truthful  and 
upright. 

Soon  after  his  death  it  was  announced  that  his  brother  was  about 
to  organise  a  large  exhibition  of  his  works,  and  other  papers  stated 
that  the  Fine  Art  Society  proposed  to  hold  an  exhibition  of  his 
paintings  soon,  at  their  gallery  in  New  Bond  Street. 

It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  these  statements  with  the  following 
intimation  given  in  the  Academy  : — 

"  We  are  authorized  to  state  that  the  family  and  friends  of  the  late 
Dante  Rossctti  are  concerned  and  grieved  at  what  they  cannot  but  think  the 
inconsiderate  haste  which  has  been  displayed  in  certain  quarters  to  an- 
nounce forthcoming  exhibitions  of  the  painters  works.  They  desire  it  to 
be  known,  first,  that  all  pictures  painted  by  Rossctti,  except  the  one  be- 
longing  to  the  City  of  Liverpool,  were  sold  under  copyright  restrictions 
which  cover  control  of  exhibition  ;  next,  that  the  holders  of  the  important 
works  positively  decline  to  lend  their  pictures,  except  to  the  executor  of 
the  estate  ;  and,  last,  that  they  cannot  countenance  the  exhibition  of  the 
lesser  works  to  the  exclusion  of  the  greater  ones,  on  which  Rossetti's  fame 
must  finally  rest.  They  appeal  to  owners  everywhere  to  help  them  (and 
prevent  complications),  by  withholding  from  all  applicants  promises  of  loan 
at  the  present  stage/' 

Naturally  the  sale   of  Mr.  Itofwetti'*  effect*  attracted  a  large 

E 


50  THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

number  of  persons  to  the  gloomy  old-fashioned  residence  in  Cheyne 
Walk,  Chelsea,  and  many  of  the  articles  sold  went  for  prices  very 
far  in  excess  of  their  intrinsic  value,  the  total  sum  realised  being 
over  £3,000. 

The  competition  for  some  of  the  books  was  very  keen,  especially 
for  the  presentation  copies ;  one  of  these  was  Swinburne's  "  Atalanta 
in  Calydon  ;w  inscribed,  Dante  Gabriel  Jtossetti,  from  his  affec- 
tionate A.  C.  Sicinburne,  being  a  first  copy  printed  off  before  the 
dedication  was  in  type.  This  little  volume  (a  copy  of  which  can 
be  obtained  from  the  publisher  for  six  shillings),  speedily  ran  up  to 
eight  and  a  half  guineas  ;  there  being  then  a  dispute,  as  two  bidders 
claimed  it,  the  auctioneer  put  it  up  again,  and  it  was  finally  sold 
for  thirty-one  guineas. 

Our  old  friend,  The  Germ,  the  four  parts  in  wrappers  as  origi- 
nally published  at  one  shilling  each  part,  sold  for  six  guineas  ;  and 
an  original  MS.  and  sketch-book  of  William  Blake  was  bought  by 
Mr.  Murray  for  105  guineas,  the  price  in  this  instance  being  in 
proportion  to  the  value  of  the  volume,  which  contains  a  number  of 
new  poems  and  sketches  by  Blake,  and  is,  of  course,  unique. 

This  curious  little  volume  had  been  purchased  for  ten  shillings 
by  Rossetti,  in  1349,  from  Mr.  Palmer,  an  attendant  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  was  of  undoubted  authenticity.  For  many  years  it 
was  a  source  of  pleasure  and  profit  to  its  possessor,  and  furnished 
many  interesting  details  to  Gilchrist's  "  Life  and  Works  of  Blake," 
to  which  work,  indeed,  both  the  Rossettis  rendered  valuable  literary 
assistance,  as  was  gratefully  acknowledged  by  Mrs.  Gilchrist,  her 
husband  having  died  before  the  new  edition  of  the  work  was  ready 
for  the  press. 

But  during  the  sale  of  these  books  on  that  fine  July  afternoon, 
in  the  dingy  studio  hung  round  with  the  lovely  but  melancholy 
faces  of  Proserpine  ami  Pandora,  despite  the  noise  of  the  throng 
and  the  witticisms  of  the  auctioneer,  a  sad  feeling  of  desecration 
must  have  crept  over  many  of  those  who  were  present  at  the  dis- 
persion of  the  household  gods  and  favourite  books  of  that  man  who 
hated  the  vulgar  crowd.     Gazing  through  the  open  windows  they 


POETS  OF  THE  iESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  51 

could  see  the  tall  trees  waving  their  heads  in  a  sorrowful  sort  of 
way  in  the  snmmer  hreeze,  throwing  their  shifting  shadows  over 
the  neglected  grass-grown  paths,  once  the  haunt  of  the  stately  pea- 
cocks whose  medieval  beauty  had  such  a  strange  fascination  for 
Rossetti,  and  whose  feathers  are  now  the  accepted  favours  of  his 
apostles  and  admirers. 

And  so  their  gaze  would  wander  back  again  to  that  mysterious 
face  upon  the  wall,  that  face  as  some  say  the  grandest  in  the  world, 
a  lovely  one  in  truth,  with  its  wistful,  woful,  passionate  eyes,  its 
masses  of  heavy  wavy  auburn  hair,  its  sweet  sad  mouth  with  the 
full  ripe  lips ;  a  face  that  seemed  to  say  the  sad  old  lines : 

"  Tis  better  to  have  loved  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all." 

And  then  would  como  the  monotonous  cry  of  the  auctioneer 

Going  !    Going  !    Gone  ! 

to  disturb  the  reverie,  and  to  call  one  back  to  this  matter-of-fact  world 
which  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  painter  and  poet,  has  left. 


BUCHANAN'S  ATTACK    ON   ROSSETTI. 

On  the  publication  of  Rossctti's  "Poems"  in  1870,  their  originality 
and  power  at  once  claimed  general  attention,  and,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence, the  envy  and  detraction  of  rival  poets,  and  the  enemies 
of  the  school  with  which  his  name  and  fame  were  identified. 

Amongst  these  critics  wa3  Robert  Buchanan,  who,  as  "  Caliban," 
had  already  attacked  Swinburne  in  the  verses  entitled,  The  Session 
of  the  Poets.  In  that  poem,  it  will  be  remembered,  that  Buchanan 
mentions  himself  as  taking  part  in  a  solemn  meeting  of  the  leading 
poets  of  the  day,  although  at  that  period  (1866)  he  was  little  known, 
and  would  most  certainly  not  havo  been  included  in  such  a  select 
company  by  any  other  writer. 

However  this  may  be,  an  article  appeared  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  of  October,  1871,  entitled,  "  The  Fleshly  School  of  Poetry," 
being  a  fierce  attack  on  the  Poems  of  Dante  G.  Rossetti,  which 

■  2 


52  THE  iRSTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IK   ENGLAND. 

were  then  already  in  the  fifth  edition;  this  article  was  signed 
41  Thomas  MaMand" 

It  being  a  distinctive  feature  of  that  Review  that  all  articles 
should  bear  the  actual  signatures  of  their  authors,  some  speculation 
took  place  as  to  this  unknown  "  Thomas  JUaitland"  whose  virulent 
article  appeared  amongst  others  all  bearing  well-known  names. 

It  was  at  once  set  down  as  an  assumed  name,  and  for  two  reasons 
was  assigned  to  Robert  Buchanan  ;  first,  because  it  was  known  that 
on  every  possible  occasion  he  attacked  the  school  to  which  he 
assigned  the  works  of  Rossetti,  and  secondly,  because  in  the  opening 
passage  of  the  article  where  he  disputes  Rossetti's  right  to  be  con- 
sidered as  anything  but  a  minor  poet,  he  inserted  his  own  name 
amongst  the  first  poets  of  the  day. 

The  article  commenced  thus : — 

"  Suppose  that  on  the  occasion  of  any  public  performance  of  Hamlet  the 
actors  who  perform  the  parts  of  Roseucrantz  and  Cuihlenstern,  were  by 
means  of  what  is  technically  known  as  'gagging,'  to  make  themselves  just  as 
prominent  as  the  leading  character,  the  result  would  be,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  astonishing;  yet  a  very  similar  effect  is  produced  ou  the  unprejudiced 
mind  when  the  *  walking  gentlemen  *  of  the  Fleshly  School  of  poetry,  who 
bear  precisely  the  same  relation  to  Mr.  Tennyson,  as  Kosenerantz  and 
Guildenstern  do  to  the  Prince  of  Denmark  in  the  play,  obtrude  their  lesser 
identities,  and  parade  their  smaller  idiosyncracies  in  the  front  rank  of 
lading  performers.  In  their  own  place  the  gentlemen  are  interesting  ami 
useful. 

"  Pursuing  still  further  the  theatrical  analogy,  the  present  drama  of  poetry 
might  be  cat  as  follows  :  — 

"  Hamlet  by  Mr.  Alfred  Tennyson ;  Horatio,  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  ; 
Voltimand,  Mr.  Bailey  ;  Cornelius,  Mr.  R.  Buchanan ;  Rosencrantz,  Mr. 
Swinburne  ;  Guildcnstern,  Mr.  \V.  Morris ;  Osrie,  Mr.  D.  G.  Rossetti  ;  A 
Gentleman,  Mr.  Robert  Lytton. 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  we  liave  left  no  place  for  Mr.  Browning,  who  may 
lie  said,  however,  to  play  the  leading  character  in  his  own  peculiar  fashion 
on  alternate  nights." 

It  was  this  paragraph  which  betrayed  the  author  of  the  article, 
for  assuredly  no  one  but  Robert  Williams  Buchanan  would  have 
inserted  the  name  of  Buchanan  amongst,  and  as  one  of,  the  leading 
poets  ;  and,  as  the  Athenttnm  remarked,  when  Mr.  Buchanan  accused 


BUCHANAN'S  ATTACK  ON   ROSSETTI.  53 

Rossctti  of  copying  him,  and  classed  himself  above  him  as  a  poet, 
and  along  with  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold,  he  was  really  singing  his  own 
praises  over  an  assumed  name. 

On  Dec.  2nd,   1S71,  the  Athcn&um  said  : — 

"  Mr.  Sidney  Colvin  is,  we  believe,  preparing  to  answer  in  the  pages  of 
the  Contemporary  Review,  an  article  which  lately  appeared  in  that  magazine 
entitled  '  The  Fleshly  School  of  Poetry,'  by  Thomas  M  ait  land,  a  worn  de 
plume  assumed  by  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan." 

But  the  following  week  Mr.  S.  Colvin  wrote  to  say  that  it  was 
not  his  intention  to  attack  the  article  in  question,  but  that  he 
would  remain  contented  with  having  pointed  out  that  in  a  maga- 
zine adopting  the  rule  of  signature  to  its  articles,  one  had  been  ad- 
mitted in  which  the  author  gratified  his  personal  spite  by  attacking 
various  other  authors,  delivering  his  cowardly  thrust  from  behind 
the  shield  of  an  imaginary  "  Thomas  Maitlanfl." 

In  the  same  paj>er  appeared  the  following  singular  letter  from 
Messrs.  Strahan  &  Co.,  the  publishers  of  the  Contsmporwy : — 

"  In  your  last  issue  you  associate  the  name  of  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan  with 
the  article,  *  The  Fleshly  School  of  Poetry,'  by  Thomas  Maitland.  You 
might  with  equal  propriety  associate  with  the  article  the  name  of  Mr. 
Rolwrt  Browning,  or  of  Mr.  Robert  Lytton,  or  of  any  other  Robert" 

Rut  just  below  this  very  equivocal  communication,  was  one  from 
Mr.  Buchanan,  saying  : — 

"  I  certainly  wrote  the  article  on  '  The  Fleshly  School  of  Poetry,'  but  I 
had  nothing  to  dc  with  the  signature.  Mr.  Strahan  can  corrolwratc  me 
thus  far,  as  he  is  best  aware  of  the  inadvertence  which  led  to  the  suppres- 
sion of  my  own  uame.  Permit  me  to  say  further,  that,  althongh  I  should 
have  preferred  not  to  resuscitate  so  slight  a  thing.  I  have  now  requested 
Mr.  Strahan  to  republish  the  criticism,  with  many  additions  but  no  material 
alterations,  and  with  my  name  on  the  title  page." 

To  which  the  editor  of  the  Athenttum  appended  this  note  : — 
*'  Mr.  Buchanan's  letter  is  an  edifying  commentary  on  Messrs.  Strahan V 
Messrs.  Strahan  apparently  think  that  it  is  a  matter  of  no  importance 
whether  signatures  are  correct  or  not,  and  that  Mr.  Browning  Lad  as  much 
to  do  with  the  article  as  Mr.  Buchanan.  Mr.  Buchanan  seems  equally  in- 
different, but  he  now  claims  the  critique  as  his.  It  is  a  pity  tho  publishers 
of  the  Contemporary  Review  should  be  in  such  uncertainty  about  the  author- 
ship of  articles  in  that  magazine.     It  may  be  only  a  matter  of  taste,  but 


54  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

we  prefer,  if  we  are  reading  an  article  written  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  that  it 
should  be  signed  by  him,  especially  when  he  praises  his  own  poems ;  and 
that  little  *  inadvertencies '  of  this  kind  should  not  be  left  uncorrected  till 
the  public  find  them  out." 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  in  the  same  number,  wrote  a  crushing 
reply  to  Buchanan's  article,  which  he  styles  The  Stealthy  ScIkmjI  of 
Criticism.  He  refers  to  the  unfair  nature  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  attacks 
upon  his  poetry,  and  shows  that  by  extracts  taken  apart  from  their 
contexts,  his  meanings  were  distorted  and  his  ideas  misrepresented ; 
and  that,  in  fact,  Mr.  Buchanan  had,  by  his  selections  and  sugges- 
tions, rendered  impure  that  which  was  chaste,  and  even  imported 
indecency  where  none  was  originally  to  be  found. 

He  adds : — 

"  It  would  be  humiliating,  need  oue  come  to  serious  detail,  to  have  to 
refute  such  an  accusation  as  that  of  '  binding  oneself  by  solemn  league  and 
covenant  to  extol  fleshliness  as  the  distinct  and  supreme  end  of  poetic  and 
pictorial  art '  Indeed,  what  I  have  said  already  is  substantially  enough  to 
refute  it,  even  did  I  not  feel  sure  that  a  fair  balance  of  my  poetry  must,  of 
itself,  do  so  in  the  eyes  of  every  candid  reader.  I  say  nothing  of  my 
pictures ;  but  those  who  know  them  will  laugh  at  the  idea. 

"  That  I  luay,  nevertheless,  take  a  wider  view  than  some  poets  or  critics, 
of  how  much,  in  the  material  conditions  absolutely  given  to  man  to  deal 
with  as  distinct  from  his  spiritual  aspirations,  is  admissible  within  the 
limits  of  art  —this,  I  say,  is  possible  enough  ;  nor  do  I  wish  to  shrink  from 
such  responsibility.  But  to  state  that  I  do  so  to  the  ignoring  or  over- 
shadowing of  spiritual  beaut}*,  is  an  absolute  falsehood,  impossible  to  be  put 
forward  except  in  the  indulgence  of  prejudice  or  rancour." 

Notwithstanding  the  reproofs  he  had  met  with  from  the  con- 
temporary press,  Mr.  Buchanan  persisted  in  reprinting  his  article, 
which  was  published  in  1872  by  Strahan  &  Co.,  in  a  pamphlet  of 
ninety-seven  pages,  having  been  greatly  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
chapters  violently  attacking  Swinburne  and  Beaudelaire,  the  French 
poet,  from  whose  Fleur*  du  Mat,  he  accuses  Swinburne  of  stealing 
many  of  his  ideas,  as  he  had  previously  accused  Rossetti  of  stealing 
from  himself ! — Of  course  he  also  accuses  Swinburne  of  flesliliness, 
and  of  even  surpassing  Beaudelaire  in  the  sensualism  of  his  art. 

After  a  time  the  pamphlet  was  suppressed  (one  may  say  it  ought 


POETS  OF  THE  jESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  5J 

never  to  have  been  published),  and  is  now  very  difficult  to  meet 
with. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  it  must  be  stated  that  he  afterwards 
made  handsome  amends,  admitting  that  he  had  been  unjust  to  Ros- 
eetti,  as  a  poet,  and  explaining  that  much  of  his  criticism  had  also 
been  unfairly  construed,  and  misapplied. 

WILLIAM  MICHAEL  ROSSETTI. 

Born  in  1829,  he  edited  The  Germ  in  1850,  and  in  1867  published 
a  volume  entitled  "  Fine  Art,  chiefly  Contemporary,"  and  in  1878, 
"  Lives  of  Famous  Poets,"  (inscribed  to  two  beloved  memories, 
Oliver  Mad  ox  Brown,  writer  and  painter,  died  5th  November, 
1874,  aged  ID.  Maria  Francesca  Rossetti,  writer  and  sister  of  the 
poor,  died  24th  Nov.,f1876,  aged  49) ;  besides  editing  the  works  of 
Keats,  Shelley,  and  numerous  other  poets  included  in  "Moxon's 
Popular  Series,"  to  each  of  which  he  prefixed  critical  memoirs. 

To  him  it  was  that  Swinburne  dedicated  his  magnificent  work 
on  William  Blake,  and  the  terms  in  which  he  addresses  Rossetti 
breathe  affection  and  respect,  such  as,  indeed,  appears  generally  to 
exist  amongst  this  curious  circle  of  gifted  men. 

He  thus  concludes  the  dedication  :  — 

"  Friendship  needs  no  cement  of  reciprocal  praise  ;  and  this  book, 
dedicated  to  yon  from  the  first,  and  owing  to  your  guidance  as  much  as  to 
my  goodwill,  whatever  it  may  have  of  worth,  wants  no  extraneous  allusion 
to  explain  why  it  should  rather  be  inscribed  with  your  name  than  with 
another.  Nevertheless,  I  will  say  that  now  of  all  times  it  gives  me  pleasure 
to  offer  you  such  a  token  of  friendship  as  I  have  at  hand  to  give.  I  can 
but  bring  you  brass  for  the  gold  you  send  me ;  but  between  equals  and 
friends  there  can  be  no  question  of  barter.  Like  Diomcd,  I  take  what  I 
am  given  and  offer  what  I  have.  Such  as  it  is,  I  know  you  will  accept  it 
with  more  allowance  than  it  deserves ;  but  one  thing  you  will  not  over-rate 
— the  affectionate  admiration,  the  grateful  remembrance,  which  needs  no 
public  expression  on  the  part  of  your  friend, 


"A.  C.  SwiNBuasE.' 
November,  186&w 


5C  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  volume  entitled  "Fine  Art,  chiefly  Contemporary  n  (pub- 
lished by  Macmillan  in  1867),  consisted  principally  of  art  criticisms, 
which  had  previously  appeared  in  various  magazines  and  reviews. 
Amongst  them  was  a  short  paper  on  Pre-RaphaelitUm,  re-produced 
from  the  Spectator,  in  which  it  had  originally  appeared  as  far  back 
as  1851.     He  thus  described  the  object  the  P.K.B.  had  in  view  & — 

"The  painters  before  Raphael  had  worked  in  often  more  thin  partial 
ignorance  of  the  positive  rules  of  art,  and  unaffected  by  conventional  rules. 
These  were  not  known  of  in  their  days  ;  and  they  neither  invented  nor  dis- 
covered them.  It  is  to  the  latter  fact,  and  not  the  former,  that  the  adoption 
of  the  name  "  Pre- Raphael  ites  "  by  the  artists  in  question  is  to  be  ascribed. 
Prc-Kaphaelites  truly  they  are — bat  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Their  aim  is 
the  same— truth  ;  and  their  process  the  same —exactitude  of  study  from 
Nature  ;  but  their  practice  is  different,  for  their  means  are  enlarged." 

In  addition  to  his  labours  as  an  Art  and  Poetical  critic,  Mr. 
W.  M.  Russet  ti  holds  an  appointment  iuthe  Civil  Service,  nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  tliat  he,  too,  is  as  poet,  as  the  following  exquisite 
sonnet  will  show  : — 

44  SHELLEY'S  HEART. 
"  To  Edward  Joux  Tkelawny. 

•••What  suipri-«ii  us  all  was  that  the  heart  rvmoiiu.il  entire.  In  -uatcuing  thi>  relic 
»wa>  from  the  fiery  furnace,  my  hand  was  severely  burnt.'— Tiu-lawst's  keaUlectioms  •/ 
Shelley. 

"Tkklawxy's  hand,  which  held'st  the  sacred  heart, 
The  heart  of  Shelley,  and  hast  felt  the  fire 

Wherein  the  drossier  frame-work  of  that  lyre 
Of  heaven  and  earth  was  molten— but  its  part 
Immortal  echoes  always,  and  shall  dart 

Pangs  of  keen  love  to  human  souls,  and  dire 

Ecstatic  sorrow  of  joy,  as  higher  and  higher 
They  mount  to  know  thee,  Shelley,  what  thou  art. 
Trclawny  8  hand,  did  then  the  outward  burn 

As  once  the  inward  ?    O  cor  cordium, 

Which  icarf  a  spirit  of  love,  and  now  a  clot, 

What  other  other  flame  was  wont  to  come 
Lambent  from  thee  to  fainter  hearts,  and  turn — 

Red  like  thy  death-pyres  heat,  their  lukewannth  hoi ! 

"Wji.  M.  Rossxm,  1871. " 


rOETS  OF  THE  ifcSTHETtC  SCHOOL.  67 

THOMAS    WOOLNER. 

The  first  poem  printed  in  The  Germ  of  January,  1850,  was  one 
by  Thomas  Woolner,  a  sculptor  by  profession,  and  an  original  member 
of  the  P.  R.  B.  This  poem,  entitled  "  My  Beautiful  Lady,"  was 
reprinted,  with  additions,  by  Macmillan  and  Co.  in  1863,  and  has 
run  to  several  editions.  It  is  an  exquisite  tale  of  love 'and  sorrow, 
full  of  tender  sentiment  and  bright  description. 

It  thus  portrays  the  lady  of  his  love,  in  lines  which  recall  some 
of  Sir  John  Suckling's  sweetest  fancies : —        , 


*'  I  love  my  Lady  ;  she  is  very  fair  ; 

Her  brow  is  wan,  and  bound  by  simple  hair 
Her  spirit  sits  aloof,  and  high, 
But  glances  from  her  Under  eye 
In  swectucss  droopingly. 

"  Her  warbling  voice,  though  ever  low  and  mild, 
Oft  makes  me  feel  as  strong  wine  would  a  child  : 
And  though  her  hand  be  airy  light 
Of  touch,  it  moves  me  with  its  might. 
As  would  a  sudden  fright. 

••  My  Lady  walks  as  I  have  watched  a  swan 
Swim  where  a  glory  on  the  water  shone  : 
There,  ends  of  willow  branches  ride. 
Quivering  in  the  flowing  tide, 
By  the  deep  river's  side. 

Fresh  beauties,  howsoe'er  she  moves,  arc  stirred  : 
As  the  sunned  bosom  of  a  humming  bird 
At  each  pant  lifts  some  fiery  hue, 
Fierce  gold,  bewildering  green  or  blue  ; 
The  same,  yet  ever  new. 

"  What  time  she  walks  beneath  the  flowering  May, 
Quite  sure  am  I  the  scented  blossoms  say, 
'  O  Lady  with  the  sunlit  hair  ! 
Stay  and  drink  our  odorous  sir, 
The  incense  that  we  bear. 

••  Thy  beauty,  Lady,  we  would  ever  shade  ; 

For  near  to  thee,  our  sweetness  might  not  fads.' 
And  could  the  trees  bo  broken-hearted 
Ths  green  sap  surely  must  hare  smarted. 
When  my  Lady  parted. 


58  TIIK  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

"  How  beautiful  she  is  !  a  glorious  gem 
She  shims  above  the  summer  diadem 

Of  flowers  !    And  when  her  light  is  seen 
Among  them,  all  in  reverence  lean 
To  her,  their  tending  Queen.  ** 

Mr.  Woolner  has  recently  published  another  poem  on  the  pretty 
old  mythological  legend  of  Pygmalion,  which  must  always  have  a 
special  interest  to  sculptors. 

It  is  not  often  that  one  is  gratified  with  such  a  fitness  of  things 
as  that  a  sculptor,  eminent  and  enthusiastic  in  his  art,  should  bo  a 
poet  also,  and  should  choose  the  antique  legend  of  "  Pygmalion  n 
for  his  theme.  In  "  Pygmalion "  the  verse  has  often  a  certain 
chiselled  severity  of  outline  and  an  almost  sculpturesque  solidity  of 
form.  Nor  is  it  wanting  in  antique  simplicity,  and  a  power  of 
presenting  images  of  grace  and  beauty  without  overstepping  the 
limits  of  the  art  which  finds  expression  in  words.  Yet,  here  and 
there,  Mr.  Woolner,  more  or  less  unconsciously,  betrays  a  spirit  and 
a  bitterness  of  more  modern  temper  when  he  glances  at  the 
besetting  trials  and  troubles  of  the  artist's  life  and  vocation,  of 
which,  indeed,  he  has  had  a  fair  share. 

WILLIAM  MORRIS. 
William  Morris,  born  in  1834,  is  by  profession  a  designer  of  art 
decorations,  wall-papers,  carpets,  and  such-like  ornamental  house- 
hold necessaries,  in  which  kind  of  business  the  new  styles  in- 
augurated and  encouraged  by  the  /Esthetes  have  created  quite  a 
revolution.  He  has  recently  published  a  volume  of  lectures  on  the 
decorative  arts,  in  which  the  influence  of  Ruskin's  teaching  is 
strongly  shown.  He  insists  on  the  necessity  of  good,  sound,  honest 
work,  both  in  art  and  in  trade,  before  all  flimsy  meretricious  show 
and  finery ;  he  also  advocates  the  opening  of  our  art  collections  and 
museums  to  the  public  every  day  in  the  week ;  and  the  more 
general  training  of  the  people  in  the  rudiments  of  artistic  work- 
in  the  weary  warfare  against  ignorance  and  bigotry,  the  position 
taken  up  by  men  like  Morris,  who  have  a  wide  influence  over  the 


TOLTS  OF  THE  .ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  59 

rising  generation,  is  especially  noteworthy  in  connection  with  the 
Sunday  Question.  It  is  almost  hopeless  to  look  for  any  general 
improvement  in  the  art  tastes  of  the  people  so  long  as  the  art  collec- 
tions arc  closed  on  the  only  day  of  the  week  when  the  people  could 
visit  them.  In  the  summer,  when  people  can,  and  do,  seek 
Nature's  God  in  Nature's  Glories,  the  loss  is  less  felt  than  in  the 
long,  damp,  dreary  days  of  winter,  when  to  walk  the  streets  is 
muddy  misery,  only  a  trifle  less  gloomy  than  to  remain  in  the  small 
close  rooms  of  the  dark  dingy  houses  our  poorer  classes  are  com- 
pelled to  inhabit. 

Homes  indeed  so  dismal  and  desolate,  that  the  public  house  near 
by,  with  its  glare  of  gas  and  its  poisonous  gin,  tempts  poor  men  to 
their  ruin ;  whilst  others,  more  sober,  but  scarcely  less  miserable, 
brood  over  the  iniquitous  system  which  places  nearly  all  the  cumula- 
tive value  of  land  and  houses  in  the  hands  of  a  few  hereditary  land- 
owners, and  compels  the  industrious  poor  to  inhabit  hovels  which 
would  be  deemed  unfit  for  my  lord's  hutitcrs,  or  his  hounds. 

Many  leaders  of  thought  in  the  present  day  are,  theoretically  at 
least,  Republicans  ;  whether  Mr.  Morris  holds  such  opinions  I  can- 
not say,  but  one  thing  is  clear,  that  those  who  would  wish  to  spread 
revolutionary  doctrines,  have  but  to  leave  things  as  they  are  for  a 
few  years  longer,  in  order  to  see  such  a  terrible  upheaval  against 
our  territorial  system  of  hereditary  and  entailed  estates,  as  the 
world  has  not  witnessed  since  the  French  Revolution.  Our  poor 
cannot  live  where  they  choose,  but  must  live  near  their  work,  every 
shilling  that  can  be  ground  out  of  them  for  rent  is  mercilessly 
exacted,  whilst  the  value  of  the  land  is  constantly  increasing,  to  the 
benefit  of  such  as  can  claim  descent  from  the  robbers  of  Henry  the 
Eighth's  glorious  reign,  from  the  mistresses  of  the  virtuous  Charles 
the  Second,  or  the  favourites  of  George  the  Fourth  of  pious  memory. 
For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  an  hereditary,  irresponsible,  legislative 
aristocracy,  which  originally  obtained  its  grants  of  the  land  on  certain 
conditions,  all  of  which  are  systematically  evaded. 

like  Ruskin,  Morris  decries  the  fevered  strain  for  money,  and  is 
at  times  somewhat  severe  on  the  modern  appliances  of  steam  and 


60  TIIK   .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IX    ENGLAND. 

machinery  as  being  detrimental  to  the  beauties  of  nature  ;  and,  in- 
deed, he  would  fain 

"  Forget  six  counties  overhung  with  smoke 
Forget  the  snorting  steam  and  piston  stroke." 

As  a  poet,  liia  fame  rests  chiefly  upon  a  long  and  beautiful  work 
entitle.  1  "The  Earthly  Paradise,"  a  poem  in  four  parts,  named 
Spring,  Summer,  Autumn,  and  Winter.  These  volumes  contain 
twenty-five  tales  in  verse,  viz. : — The  Wanderers ;  Atalanta's  Pace ; 
The  Man  born  to  bo  King;  The  Doom  of  King  Acrisius;  The 
Proud  King ;  Cupid  and  Psyche ;  The  Writing  on  the  Image ;  The 
Love  of  Alcestis  ;  The  Lady  of  the  Land  ;  The  Son  of  Citjesus ;  The 
Watching  of  the  Falcou ;  Pygmalion  and  the  Image  ;  Ogier,  the 
Dane  ;  The  Death  of  Paris  ;  The  Land  East  of  the  Sun  and  West 
of  the  Moon  ;  Acontius  and  Cydippe  ;  The  Man  who  never  laughed 
a^ain ;  The  Story  of  Khodope ;  The  Lovers  of  Gudrun ;  The 
Golden  Apples  ;  The  Fostering  of  Aslaug  ;  Bellerophon  at  Argos  ; 
The  King  given  to  Venus  ;  Bellerophon  in  Lycia ;  The  Hill  of 
Venus. 

His  other  published  poems  and  translations  are  : — "  The  Life 
and  Death  of  Jason,"  a  poem,  in  seventeen  books ;  "  Love  is 
Enough  ;  or,  The  Freeing  of  Pharamond,"  a  morality  ;  "  The  Defence 
of  Guenevere,"  and  other  poems  ;  "  The  iEneids  of  Virgil,"  done 
into  English  verse  ;  "  The  Story  of  Sigurd  the  Volsung,  and  the 
Fall  of  the  Xiblungs";  "The  Story  of  Grettir  the  Strong " trans- 
lated from  the  Icelandic  of  the  Grettis  Saga  (one  of  the  most 
remarkable  prose  works  of  ancient  Icelandic  literature) ;  "  The 
Story  of  the  Volsungs  and  Niblungs,"  with  songs  translated  from 
the  Elder  Edda  ;  "  Three  Northern  Love  Stories,"  and  other  tales 
translated  from  the  Icelandic,  in  these  translations  Mr.  Morris  was 
assisted  by  Mr.  F.  Magntisson. 

In  this  year's  Grosvenor  Gallery  a  very  fine  portrait  of  William 
Morris  was  exhibited  by  W.  B.  Richmond,  showing  a  handsome 
genial  face  and  massive  intellectual  head — the  poet  to  the  life. 

So  far,  then,  the  iEsthetic  union  between  painting,  sculpture,  the 
decorative  arts,  and  poetry,  has  been  amply  exemplified  ;  we  next 


POETS  OF  THE  .ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  61 

come  to  *  distinguished  poet,  who  is,  however,  purely  and  simply, 
a  man  of  letters,  namely  A.  C.  Swinburne. 

ALGERNON  CHARLES   SWINBURNE. 

There  are  probably  few  literary  men  who  would  hesitate  for  a 
moment  in  assigning  to  Swinburne  the  title  of  King  of  the  ^Esthetic 
poets,  and  in  1860,  long  before  the  movement  became  fashionable, 
he  had  dedicated  his  tragic  drama,  "  The  Queen  Mother,*  to  Dante 
Gabriel  Rossetti,  and  his  "  Laus  Veneris  "  to  E.  Burne-Jones,  to 
which  artist  the  place  of  honour  is  now  assigned  in  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery.  One  of  Burne -Jones's  most  famous  pictures  also  has  the 
title,  "  Laus  Veneris."  In  the  same  volume  of  poems  there  was 
also  a  sonnet  to  the  eccentric  artist,  J.  M.  Whistler. 

Algernon  Charles  Swinburne  (an  Oxford  man)  is  undoubtedly  a 
poet  of  great  power,  an  excellent  scholar  and  linguist,  and  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  men  of  letters  of  the  day  ;  masterly  as  a  critic, 
he  is  unsurpassed  in  the  vigour  and  elegance  of  his  prose  writings. 

Many  of  those  who  know  him  only  as  a  Poet  of  strongly 
Republican  tendencies  would  be  surprised  to  hear  of  his  aristocratic 
descent,  and  probably  Swinburne,  like  Prior,  would  rest  content 
with  those  ancestors  common  to  us  all.  His  grandfather,  Sir  John 
Swinburne,  held  a  baronetcy  which  dated  as  far  kick  as  16C0, 
belonging  to  a  family,  which,  through  good  and  evil  fortune,  had 
adhered  to  the  Stuart  Dynasty.  Sir  John  lived  to  the  age  of  98 
(he  died  in  1860),  and  during  his  long  life  he  enjoyed  the  friend- 
ship of  most  of  the  leading  literary  and  i>octieal  celebrities  both  in 
France  and  England,  connecting  one  century  with  another,  as  he 
could  also  one  country  with  another,  and  remembering  as  clearly 
Mirabcan  and  John  Wilkes  as  he  did  Turner  and  Mulrcady.  The 
poet's  father  (a  younger  son  of  Sir  John)  held  a  commission  in  the 
Royal  Navy,  and  in  1836  he  married  Lady  Jane  Henrietta, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Ashburnham,  so  that  Algernon  Charles 
Swinburne  is  descended  from  two  of  our  oldest  aristocratic  families. 


62  THE  AESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

Though  of  equally  noble  birth  with  Shelley,  Byron,  Alfieri, 
Victor  Hugo,  or  I  [enri  Bochefort,  and  possessing  quite  as  keen  an 
interest  in  the  progress  of  democracy  as  they,  he  refused  a  seat  in 
Parliament  when  one  was  offered  to  him  by  the  Reform  League,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  life  and  energies  to  literature — and  perhaps  the 
choice  was  a  wise  one,  for  the  position  of  a  Radical  Member  in  our 
English  Parliament  is  not,  as  yet,  an  enviable  one. 

He  passed  five  years  at  Eton,  and  nearly  four  at  Oxford ;  since 
then  his  pen  lias  been  most  prolific,  producing  twenty  volumes  at 
least  of  prose  and  verse,  besides  almost  innumerable  articles  and 
reviews ;  the  splendour  of  his  genius  as  poet  and  critic  is  now 
generally  admitted,  but  his  best  friends  must  regret  that  the  ardent 
enthusiasm  of  his  nature  will  not  permit  him  to  husband  his 
resources,  and  so  avoid  the  chronic  nervousness  and  physical  weak- 
ness which  so  often  disable  those  who  overtax  their  brain  power. 

Born  in  1837,  he  is  still  a  young  man,  yet  his  name  has  been 
prominently  before  the  public  for  a  good  many  years,  and  his 
works  are  numerous  and  varied  in  character,  as  will  l>e  seen  from 
the  following  list :— "The  Queen  Mother  and  Rosamond,*  18G0; 
"  Atalanta  in  Calydon,"  1863  ;  "  Chastelard,  a  Tragedy," 
1805  ;  "  Poems  and  Ballads,"  I860  ;  "  Notes  on  Poems  ami 
Reviews,"  18G6;  "Songs  of  Italy,"  1867;  "Essay  on  William 
Blake,"  1868  ;  "  Notes  on  the  Royal  Academy  Exhibition," 
1868  ;  "  Siena,"  1868  ;  "  Ode  on  the  French  Republic,"  1870  ; 
"Songs  before  Sunrise,"  1871  ;  "  ruder  the  Microscope,"  1872; 
'*  Tombeau  de  Theophile  Gautier"  (containing  poems  by  Swinburne 
in  English,  French,  Latin,  and  Greek  ;  Paris,  1873);  "Bothwell, 
a  Tragedy,"  1874  ;  "  Essays  and  Studies,"  1875  ;  "Songs  of  Two 
Nations,"  1875;  "Essay  on  George  Chapman,"  1875;  "Note  on 
the  Muscovite  Crusade,"  1876;  "  Erechtheus,  a  Tragedy,"  1876; 
"  Note  on  Charlotte  Bronte,"  1877  ;  "Poems  and  Ballads,"  second 
series,  1878  ;    "  A  Study  of  Shakespeare, "  1880  ;*  "  Songs  of  the 


*  Thus  dedicated  to  the  greatest  living  authority  on  Shakespeare,  the 
karued  and  genial  James  Orchard  Halliw.ll  Phillinps  .—"That  a  sample  or 
excerpt  fiven  from  this  book,  while  as  yet,  save  in  design,  unfinished,  should 


POETS  OF  THE  .ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  63 

Springtides,*  1880;  "Studies  in  Song,"   1880;  "Mary   Stuart," 
and  various  other  Poems. 

Thus,  although  he  has  made  his  name  as  one  of  the  first  of 
England's  poets,  his  contributions  to  prose  literature  are  also  of  great 
importance  ;  as  a  critic  he  is  unrivalled  for  keenness  of  insight  and 
the  power  and  brilliance  of  his  language.  He,  at  least,  is  a  living 
exemplification  of  Ch.  Baudelaire's  axiom  : — 

*'  Tons  les  grands  poetcs  deviennent  naturellement,  fatalcmcnt,  critiques. 
II  strait  prodigieux  qu'un  critique  devint  poete,  mais  il  est  impossible  qu'un 
pcete  ne  contienne  pas  un  critique." 

There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  part  of  Reginald  Bunthorne, 
the  Fleshly  Poet  in  Gilbert's  opera,  was  a  mild  satire  upon  Swinburne, 
upon  whom  the  title  of  a  fleshly  poet  was  conferred  some  years . 
since  by  Robert  Buchanan,  the  critic,  in  his  fierce  little  book  called 
"The  Fleshly  School."  Besides  which,  Mr.  George  Grossr.iith's 
make-up  for  the  part  added  some  slight  personal  resemblance  to  the 
literary  skits  contained  in  the  piece. 

Now,  the  rival  poet,  excellently  portrayed  by  that  fascinating 
actor,  Mr.  Rutland  Barrington,  was  as  undoubtedly  intended  for  Mr. 
Oscar  "Wilde.  Archibald  Grosvenor,  the  idyllic  poet,  appeared  as  a 
tall,  handsome  young  man  in  the  style  of  dress  affected  by  Mr. 
Oscar  Wilde,  and  there  were  numerous  allusions  throughout  the 
piece  both  to  his  personal  good  looks,  and  to  his  mildly  idyllic 
poetry,  such,  for  instance,  as  in  the  decalet,  "  Gentle  Jane." 

have  found  such  favour  in  your  sight,  and  won  such  approval  at  your  hands 
as  you  then  by  word  alike  and  action,  so  cordially  expressed,  is  reason  enough 
why  I  should  inscribe  it  with  your  name  :  even  if  I  felt  less  pleasure  in  the 
reflection  and  the  record,  that  this  little  labour  of  a  life-long  love  had  at  once 
the  doubly  good  fortune  and  the  doubly  grateful  success,  to  be  praised  by  those 
who  have  earned  the  praise  and  thanks  of  all  true  Shakespearian  scholars,  and 
dispraised  by  such  as  have  deserved  their  natural  doom  to  reap  neither,  but 
from  the  harvest  of  their  own  applause  or  that  of  their  fellows.  It  might  be 
hard  for  a  personally  unbiassed  judgment  to  strike  the  balance  of  genuine  value 
and  significance  between  these  two  form*  of  acknowledgment,  but  it  will  be 
evident  which  is  to  me  the  more  precious,  when  I  write  your  name  above  my 
own  on  the  votive  scroll,  which  attache  my  offering  to  the  shrine  of  Shake- 
speare. — Algernon  Charles  SwisntriunL" 


64  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

It  will  be  remarked  that  Swinburne's  first  volume  was  published 
when  he  was  but  twenty-threo  years  of  age,  and,  as  is  usual  with 
English  reviewers,  the  work  of  the  young  poet  was  at  once  marked 
out  for  slaughter.  In  every  other  profession  the  first  efforts  of  a 
young  beginner  are  treated  with  a  little  indulgence,  and  are  more 
leniently  criticised  than  the  labours  of  an  experienced  and  veteran 
performer.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  young  singing  bird :  let  him 
but  once  raise  his  head  to  sing,  when  down  swoop  upon  him  the 
vultures  of  the  Press,  and  if  they  cannot  peck  the  life  out  of  him, 
they  so  screech  round  him,  and  buffet  about  him  with  their  wings, 
that  the  noise  they  make,  though  it  has  no  music  in  it,  effectually 
drowns  his  voice.  Chatterton  was  killed  in  this  manner,  and  so 
was  Keats ;  Byron  had  too  much  stamina  for  them.  He  turned 
fiercely  upon  them,  in  "  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers,"  and 
beat  them  so  soundly  that  the  laugh  was  all  ou  his  side. 

Old  Professor  Wilson  (Christopher  North)  in  Blachco&Vs 
Magazine,  attempted  to  extinguish  Alfred  Tennyson  in  the  same 
manner,  but  the  future  Poet  Laureate  contemptuously  replied  in  the 
following  lines — 

44  You  did  late  review  my  lays, 
Crusty  Christopher, 
You  did  mingle  blame  and  praise, 

1  lusty  Christopher. 
When  I  learnt  from  whom  it  came, 
I  forgave  you  all  the  blame, 

Musty  Christopher ; 
I  could  not  forgive  the  praise, 
Fusty  Christopher,"' 
and  then  went  calmly  on  his  way. 

It  was,  therefore,  quite  in  the  order  of  things  that  Mr.  Swinburne, 
being  young  and  a  poet,  should  be  abused,  and  the  critics  set  about  it 
merrily,  accusing  him  of  indecency  and  immorality  in  his  writings, 
and  by  means  of  garbled  extracts  torn  from  their  context,  and 
ingeniously  misinterpreted  through  the  medium  of  their  own 
prurient  imaginations,  raised  a  certain  amount  of  prejudice  against 
his  works  in  the  minds  of  those  people  who  take  their  opinions  at 
'second-hand,  and  mistake  cant  and  prudery  for  piety  and  purity. 


POETS  OF  THE  -ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  65 

It  was  in  1866,  on  the  publication  of  his  Poems  and  Ballads, 
that  the  attacks  and  misrepresentations  reached  their  height,  and 
Swinburne  replied  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled  Notes  on  Poems  and 
Berleirs,  from  which  I  take  the  following  passages : — 

*'  With  regard  to  any  opinion  implied  or  expressed  throughout  my  book, 
I  desire  that  one  thing  should  l>c  remembered  ;  the  book  is  dramatic,  many- 
faced,  multifarious  ;  and  no  utterance  of  enjoyment  or  despair,  belief  or 
unbelief,  can  properly  be  assumed  as  the  assertion  of  its  author's  personal 
feeling  or  faith  Were  each  poem  to  be  accepted  as  the  deliberate  out- 
come and  result  of  the  writer's  conviction,  not  mine  alone,  but  most  other 
men's  verses  would  leave  nothing  behind  but  a  sense  of  cloudy  chaos  and 
suicidal  contiadicticn. 

**  In  one  thing,  indeed,  it  seems  I  have  erred  ;  I  have  forgotten  to  prefix 
to  my  work  the  timely  warning  of  a  great  poet  and  humorist : — 

"  '  J'en  previens  les  nu-res  des  families, 

Ce  que  j'ecris  n'est  pas  pour  les  pctues  filles 
l\>nt  on  coupe  le  pain  en  tartines  ;  mes  vers 
Sont  des  vers  dc  jeunc  hommc." 

*'  I  have  overlooked  the  evidence  which  every  day  makes  clearer,  that 
our  time  has  room  only  for  such  as  are  content  to  write  for  children  and 
girls.     But  this  oversight  is  the  sum  of  my  offence. 

**  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  to  publish  a  l>ook  were  equivalent  to 
thrusting  it  with  violence  into  the  hands  of  every  mother  and  nurse  in  tic 
kingdom  as  fit  and  necessary  food  for  female  infancy.  To  all  this,  however, 
there  is  a  grave  side.  The  question  at  issue  is  wider  than  any  between  a 
single  writer  and  his  critics,  or  it  might  well  be  allowed  to  drop.  It  is 
this  :  whether  or  not  the  first  and  Last  requisite  of  art  is  to  give  no  offence ; 
whether  or  not  all  that  cannot  be  lisped  in  the  nursery  is,  therefore,  to  l>e 
cast  out  of  the  library  ;  whether  or  not  the  domestic  circle  is  to  be  for  all 
men  and  writers  the  outer  limit  and  extreme  horizon  of  their  world  of  work. 
For,  to  this  we  have  come  ;  and  all  students  of  art  must  face  the  matter  as 
it  stands.  In  no  past  century  were  artists  ever  bidden  to  work  on  these 
terms ;  nor  are  they  now,  except  among  na.  With  English  versifiers  now, 
the  idyllic  form  is  alone  in  fashion,  the  one  great  and  prosperous  poet  of  the 
time  has  given  out  the  tune,  and  the  hoarser  choir  takes  it  up. 

"  We  have  idylls  good  ami  bail,  ngly  anil  pretty  ;  idylls  of  the  farm  and 
the  mill ;  idylls  of  the  dining-room  and  the  deanery  ;  idylls  of  the  glitter 
ami  the  gibbet 

r 


GO  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

"The  idyllic  form  is  best  for  domestic  and  pastoral  poetry.  It  is 
naturally  on  a  lower  level  than  that  of  tragic  or  lyric  verse.  Its  gentle 
and  maidenly  lips  are  somewhat  narrow  for  the  stream,  and  somewhat  cold 
for  the  fire  of  song.  It  **  very  Jit  for  the  sole  diet  of  girU  ;  not  very  >*  for  the 
sole  sMdenamce  of  «*»»." 

The  allusion  in  the  above  to  the  '*  idylls  of  the  gutter  and  the 
gibbet "  has  been  interpreted  as  applying  to  certain  poems,  The 
Lfvtt  of  the  Hangmen,  and  Nell,  written  by  Robert  Buchanan,  one 
of  the  most  severe  and  uufair  of  Swinburne's  critics,  and  when, 
shortly  afterwards,  the  following  verses  appeared  in  the  Sjteetat»r, 
they  were  generally  ascribed  to  Buchanan. 


"THE   SESSION    OF   THE    POETS. 
"ArorsT,  1866. 
Di  mayn't,  mlaputium  di*rrtitm  /—Cat.  Lib.  LIII. 


At  the  Session,  of  Poets  held  lately  in  London, 

The  Bard  of  Freshwater  was  voted  the  chair : 
With  his  tresses  unbrush'd,  and  his  shirt-collar  undone, 

He  loll  d  at  his  ease  like  a  good  -hnmour'd  Bear ; 
•  Come,  boys  ! '  he  exclaimed,  *  we'll  be  merry  together !  * 

And  lit  up  his  pipe  with  a  smile  on  his  cheek  ; 
While  with  eye  like  a  skipper's  cock'd  up  at  the  weather, 

Sat  the  Vice-Chairman  Browning,  thinking  in  Greek. 

II. 

1  The  company  gather'd  embraced  great  and  small  hards, 

Both  strong  bards  and  weak  bards,  funny  and  grave, 
Fat  bards  and  lean  bards,  little  and  tall  bards, 

Bards  who  wear  whiskers,  and  others  who  shave. 
Of  books,  men,  and  tilings,  was  the  bards'  conversation — 

Some  praised  Erce  Homo,  some  deemed  it  so-so — 
And  then  there  was  talk  of  the  state  of  the  nation, 

And  when  the  unwash'd  would  devour  Mister  Lowe. 


POETS  OF  THE  .ESTHETIC  SCHOOL,  67 

III. 

•  Right  stately  sat  Arnold,— his  black  gown  adjusted 

(Jcnteelly,  his  Rhine  wine  deliciously  iced, — 
With  puddingish  England  serenely  disgusted, 

And  looking  in  vain  (in  the  mirror)  for  *  Oeist ; ' 
He  hcarkM  to  the  Chairman,  with  •Surely  ! '  and  *  Really?* 

Aghast  at  both  collar  and  cutty  of  clay, — 
Then  felt  in  his  pocket,  and  breath \\  again  freely. 

On  touching  the  leaves  of  his  own  classic  play. 

n\ 

•  Close  at  hand  lingered  Lytton,  whose  Icarus- winglets 

Had  often  betrayed  him  in  regions  of  rhyme — 
How  glitter'd  the  eye  underneath  his  gray  ringlets, 

A  hunger  within  it  unlessened  by  time  ? 
Remoter  sat  Bailey — satirical,  surly — 

Who  studied  the  language  of  Goethe  too  soon, 
Who  sang  himself  hoarse  to  the  stars  very  early, 

And  crack'd  a  weak  voice  with  too  loftv  a  tunc. 


V. 

*•  How  name  all  that  wonderful  company  over  ? — 
Trim  Patmore,  mild  Alfonl— and  Kingslcy  also? 

Among  the  small  sparks  who  was  realler  than  Lover  ? 
Among  misses,  who  sweeter  than  Miss  Ingelow  ? 

There  sat,  looking  mooney,  conceited,  and  narrow, 
Buchanan, — who,  finding  when  foolish  and  young. 


Apollo  asleep  on  a  coster-girl's  barrow. 

Straight  dragged  him  away  to  see  somebody  hung. 

VI. 

What  was  said  ?  what  was  done  ?  was  there  prosi  ng  or  rhyming  ? 

Was  nothing  noteworthy  in  deed  or  in  word  ? 
Why,  just  as  the  hour  for  the  supper  was  chimii  ig. 

The  only  event  of  the  evening  occurred. 
Up  jumped,  with  his  neck  stretching  out  like  a  gander. 

Master  Swinburne,  and  squcal'd,  glaring  out  through  his  hnir. 
'  All  Virtue  is  bosh  !     Hallelujah  for  l*ndor  ! 

I  disbelieve  wholly  in  everything  I — there  ! ' 

F  2 


O*  THE  /ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

VIL 

"  With  language  so  awful  he  dared  then  to  treat  'em, — 

Miss  Ingelow  fainted  in  Tennyson's  arms, 
Poor  Arnold  rush'd  out,  crying  *  Seed '  inficetum  ! ' 

And  great  bards  and  small  bards  were  full  of  alarms ; 
Till  Tennyson,  flaming  and  red  as  a  gipsy. 

Struck  his  fist  on  the  table  and  uttered  a  shout : 
•To  the  door  with  the  boy  !    Call  a  cab  !    He  is  tipsy  !  * 

And  they  carried  the  naughty  young  gentleman  out. 

VIII. 

"  After  that,  all  the  pleasanter  talking  was  done  there— 
Whoever  had  known  such  an  insult  before  ? 
The  Chairman  tried  bard  to  re-kindle  the  fun  there, 

But  the  Muses  were  shocked  and  the  pleasure  was  o'er. 
Then  *  Ah  ! '  cried  the  Chairman,  *  this  teaches  me  knowledge, 

The  future  shall  find  me  more  wise,  by  the  powers  ! 
This  comes  of  assigning  to  yonkers  from  college 
Too  early  a  place  in  such  meetings  as  ours  !  " 

"  Caliban. 
M  The  S/xctator,  Sept  15th,  1SC6." 


Buchanan  afterwards  admitted  that  he  had  written  these  lines, 
and  the  circumstances  leading  up  to  that  admission  will  be  fully 
described  in  connection  with  his  book  on  The  Fleshly  School. 

To  return,  however,  to  Swinburne ;  his  later  poems  differ  from 
the  earlier  ones  in  having  less  of  an  amatory  and  more  of  a  political 
cast,  his  ideas  being  of  a  strongly  Republican  order.  His  "  Songs 
before  Sunrise/'  were  dedicated  to  Mazzini,  the  Italian  patriot,  who 
it  was  persuaded  Swinburne  not  to  plunge  into  the  turbid  stream 
of  political  life. 

In  his  poems  there  is  much  that  is  obscure,  almost  unintelligible 
indeed  ;  one  critic  epigrammatically  remarked,  u  there  is  so  much 
sound  in  Swinburne's  songs,  there  is  no  room  for  sense,  yet  the 
sound  alone  is  l>eautiful  f  his  verses  are  polished,  and  highly 
musical,  either  with  a  somewhat  feverish  entrain,  or  else  deeply 
tinged  with  melancholy  and  despair. 


l*OETN  OF  TllE  .ESTHETIC  SCHOOL.  60 


ARTHUR  W.  E.  O'SHAUGHNESSY 

Was  born  in  1844,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  obtained  (through  the 
interest  of  Lord  Lytton)  a  position  in  the  Natural  History  Depart- 
ment of  the  British  Museum.  In  1873  ho  married  Miss  Eleanor 
Marston,  who  being  the  daughter  and  sister  of  poets,  naturally  had 
a  bent  in  the  direction  of  poetry,  and  assisted  her  husband  in  some 
of  his  early  works,  especially  in  a  volume  entitled  "Toyland," 
which  they  published  in  1875. 

But  Mrs.  O'Shaughnessy  and  her  two  children  all  died  in  1879, 
and  the  unfortunate  young  ]>oct  did  not  long  survive  them,  he 
dying  in  London  early  in  1881. 

His  early  books— "An  Epic  of  Women  "  (1870) ;  and  «  Lays  of 
France  "(1872),  were  successful,  but  "Music  and  Moonlight" 
(1874),  was  coldly  received.  After  this  he  wrote  a  good  many 
critical  essays,  and  some  translations  from  modern  French  poetry 
for  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine."  These  were  republished  in  a 
posthumous  volume  entitled  "  Songs  of  a  Worker." 


J0KHS  FlgflER  :  n  Poem  IN  Brown*  Wh»K, 

AX1> 


X  1675,  Messrs.  Triibner  published  an  anonymous 
work  entitled  "Jonas  Fisher,  a  poem  in  Brown 
and  White,"  which  contained  several  passage* 
strongly  denouncing  the  so-called  Fleshly  School, 
and  as  Mr.  Buchanan  had  already  earned  a  notoriety 
for  anonymously  attacking  rival  poets,-  it  seemed  to 

some  critics  that  this  work  might  also  be  safely  ascribed  to  his  pen ; 

the  more  especially  as  passages  in  it  appeared  to  convey  a  meaning 

very  similar  to  the  sentiments  already  expressed  by  Buchanan  in 

October,  1871,  in  the  Contemporary  Recieic,  over  the  nomde  plume 

of  Thomas  Maitland. 

The  following  verses  are  part  of  a  dialogue  between  the  hero, 

Jonas  Fisher,  and  Mr.  Grace,  in  which  the  topics  of  Art  and  Poetry 

are  discussed : — 

4  *  It  is  nut  that  our  modems  lack 
All  ticry  essence  in  their  mind  ; 
But  what  belongs  to  flesh  and  blood 
Appears  to  them  so  unrefined. 

"  That  to  make  simple  manifold, 

And  clear  obscure,  they  take  much  pains— 
The  grandsires  wrote  with  all  their  hearts, 
The  grandsons  write  with  all  their  brains. 


••  JONAS  FISH  Ell,"  AND  RUBER!  BUCHANAN. 

«  ■  Well,  Sir,'  said  I,  *  I  did  not  know 
That  porta  now  took  pains  to  be 
So  modest     Nay,  I've  heard  them  charged 
With  very  great  indecency.' 

"  *  I  did  not  speak  so  much  of  that,' 
Said  he,  *  the  primness  that  1  mean. 
Is  hating  common  manly  force, 

Not  hating  things  that  are  obscene. 


"  *  For  (blameless  held  some  noble 
And  placed  on  pinnacles  above). 
The  moderns  chiefly  write  with  heart 
When  writing  about  sensual  love/ 

••  *  How  pitiful,  dear  Sir,*  said  I, 

*  The  wanderings  of  the  carnal  man  1 
With  such  good  subjects  all  around 
To  pick  and  choose  among,  he  can 

••  •  Debase  himself  to  play  with  dirt ! 
Now  is*nt  it  a  stupid  thing  ? ' 
Said  he,  '  I'm  not  so  sure  of  that, 
The  subject's  always  interesting. 

••  •  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  howl 

Whene'er  the  smallest  word  is  said, 
That  might  not  fittingly  appear 
In  books  to  little  children  read. 

••  'Nay,  heart  and  soul,  I  do  enjoy 
A  good  strong  Rabelaisian  shout 
To  crack  my  sides  withal,  the  fun 

Rough  rustics  make  o'er  pipes  and  stoat. 

'*  *  A  man's  a  man,  not  incense  smoke 

To  haunt  a  church  and  dread  rude  galea 
And  far  too  much  for  wholesome  needs 
Mock  modesty  of  speech  prevails. 

••  ■  Nor  do  I  shudder  over-much 
(However  little  I  approve). 
When  men  like  Byron  sing  too  free 
Of  downright,  honest,  manlike  love. 


72  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

m  « j;u t  wmit  Uiy  vcry  goal  abhors, 

What  almost  turns  my  blood  to  bile, 
la  when  some  prurient  paganist 

Stands  up,  end  warbles  with  e  smile 

••  '  A  sick,  putrescent,  dulcet  lay, — 

Like  sugared  sauce  with  meat  too  high, — 
To  hymn,  or  hint,  the  sensuous  charms 
Of  morbid  immorality. 

"  '  Excuse  me— do  you  think  it  right 
To  read  such  poems,  Mr.  (Jrace? 
Pray,  did  you  ever  meet  with  them 
In  any  reputable  place  ?' " 

The  Examiner  gave  a  criticism  of  this  poem,  in  the  course  of 
which  it  said — 

'*  This  anonymous  poem  is  said  to  be  the  work  of  either  Mr.  Robert 
Buchanan  or  the  Devil ;  and  delicate  as  may  be  the  question  raised  by  this 
double-sided  supposition,  the  weight  of  the  probability  inclines  to  the  first 
of  the  alternatives.  That  the  author,  whichever  he  is,  is  a  Scotchman, 
may  be  inferred  from  one  or  two  incidental  sneers  at  the  characteristics  of 
his  countrymen.  The  worst  things  said  about  countries  have  been  said  by 
renegade  natives.  I  There  are  other  and  more  specific  circumstances  which 
favour  the  report  that  Jonas  Fisher  is  another  of  the  aliases  under  which 
Mr.  Buchanan  is  fond  of  challenging  criticism,  rather  than  one  of  the 
equally  numerous  disguises  of  the  enemy. 

"There  is  no  reason  why  the  Devil  should  go  out  of  his  way  to  abuse 
the  *  Fleshly  School.'  Now  the  hero  of  this  poem  has  views  on  some  of  the 
tendencies  of  modern  poetry  and  art  which  coincide  very  closely  with  Mr. 
Buchanan's,  exhibiting  the  same  nicely-balanced  and  carefully-differentiated 
feelings  of  scorn  for  effeminate  voluptuousness,  and  delight  in  that  volup- 
tuousness which  is  manly." 

A  few  days  after  this  somewhat  ponderous  criticism,  there  was  a 
long  letter  in  The  Examiner  entitled  "  The  Devil's  Due,"  this  was 
signed  "Thomas  Maitland,"  the  name  over  which,  it  will  be 
remembered,  Huchanan's  attack  on  the  Fleshly  School  in  the 
Contemporary  Jiecieic  had  originally  appeared. 

But  this  letter  in  The  Examiner  of  December  11th,  1875,  after 
ridiculing  "Jonas  Fisher,"  and  comparing  it  to  an  inferior  description 


"JONAS   FISHER,"  AND   IlOlJEUT   MCIIAXAX.  73 

of  "  Bab  Ballads,"  proceeded  to  castigate  Buchanan,  whom  it  styled 
"  multifaced  idyllist  of  the  gutter/'  (alluding  to  the  number  of  the 
pseudonyms  he  had  assumed,  and  to  the  low-life  topics  he  had 
selected  for  his  poems),  on  the  assumption  that  he  was  its  author, 
and  to  parody  the  letter  he  had  written  about  his  article  in  the  Con- 
temporary, in  which  he  had  stated  that  the  twin  de  plume  of  Thomas 
Maitland  was  inserted  by  the  publishers  without  his  knowledgo  or 
consent,  whilst  he  was  away  yachting  in  Scotland. 

This  is  the  satirical  postscript  affixed  tc  the  "  Devil's  Duo  "  : — 

■  The  writer  being  at  present  away  from  London  on  a  cruise  among  the 
Philippine  Islands  in  his  steam  yacht  1%t  Skulk  (Captain  Shuflleton,  master), 
is,  as  can  be  proved  on  the 'oath  or  the  solemn  word  of  honour  of  the  editor, 
publisher,  and  proprietor,  responsible  neither  for  an  article  which  might 
with  great  foundation  be  attributed  to  Cardinal  Manning  or  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  or  to  any  other  writer  iu  the  Contemporary  llcrinc  as  its  actual 
author ;  nor  for  the  adoption  of  a  signature  under  which  his  friends  in 
general,  acting  not  only  without  his  knowledge,  but  against  his  expressed 
wishes  on  the  subject,  have  thought  it  best  and  wisest  to  shelter  his 
personal  responsibility  from  any  chance  of  attack.  This  frank,  manly,  and 
consistent  explanation  will,  I  cannot  possibly  doubt,  make  everything 
straight  and  safe  on  all  hands." 

Mr.  Buchanan  wrote  a  complaint  to  The  Examiner  on  the  tone 
of  this  article,  which  it  was  afterwards  admitted  was  written  by 
Mr.  Swinburne,  who,  it  was  said,  was  prepared  to  take  the  full 
responsibility.  But  Mr.  Buchanan  preferred  to  bring  an  action  for 
libel  against  the  proprietor  of  The  Examiner ',  Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor, 
M.P.  for  Leicester,  who  pleaded  not  guilty,  and  also  set  up  the 
defence  that  the  alleged  libels  were  only  fair  criticisms  upon  the 
defendant's  works. 

The  case  was  tried  before  Mr.  Justice  Archibald  and  a  special  jury 
in  June,  1876,  and  resulted  in  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff  with  XI 50 
damages.  Much  amusement  was  caused  during  the  trial  by  the 
cross-examination  of  the  plaintiff  and  his  witnesses  the  first  of 
whom  was  Lord  Southcsk,  who  appeared  to  claim  "Jonas  Fisher  " 
as  his  work,  in  which  he  admitted  that  he  had  expressed  his  views 
against  the  "  Fleshly  School,"  consisting  principally  of  the  works 


74  THE  J2STHET1C  MOVEMENT  IX    ENGLANb. 

of  Mr.  Swinburne,  Mr.  1>.  G.  Roabetti,  Mr.  Morris  and  Mr. 
Arthur  O'Shaughnessy. 

The  Earl  of  Soutbeak  was  called,  and  stated  —  **I  am  the 
author  of  the  work  called  '  Jonas  Fisher.'  My  work  contains  nothing 
whatever  against  the  characteristic  virtues  of  the  Scottish  people. 
In  the  poem  I  express  my  honest  views  of  the  writings  of  the 
Fleshly  School  I  have  only  had  Mr.  Buchanan's  acquaintance 
since  the  beginning  of  the  present  year." 

"  Jonas  Fisher  is  supposed  to  be  a  City  missionary  in  Edinburgh, 
writing  on  the  Scotch  people,  and  visiting  amongst  the  poorer 
classes.  There  is  nothing  which  offends  decency  in  my  work,  but 
it  is  not  a  poem  written  for  boys  and  girls,  because  1  speak  plainly 
of  things,  but  there  is  no  immorality  in  it"* 

Then  came  the  plaintiff,  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan,  who  stated  that 
he  had  been  a  literary  man  for  15  years,  that  he  had  written  the 
article  entitled  "  The  Fleshly  School,"  having  given  instructions  that 
it  should  be  published  anonymously,  to  which  Messrs.  Strahan 
objected,  and  affixed  the  name  "  Thomas  Maitland  "  to  it,  without 
his  knowledge.  When  "Jonas  Fisher "  was  afterwards  ascribed  to 
him,  he  had  written  to  repudiate  its  authorship,  although  he  ad- 
mitted he  had  written  other  anonymous  poems  severely  attacking 
Mr.  Swinburne  and  others,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  *'  Session  of 


*  I  have  recently  been  favoured  with  the  following  communication  from 
the  Earl  of  Southesk,  explaining  his  position  with  regard  to  the  trial  arising 
from  the  criticisms  on  "  Jonas  Fisher  "  : — 

"lam  obliged  by  your  letter  ;  probably,  should  we  ever  meet,  you  would 
lind  that  your  own  ideas  and  mine  are  not  very  different.  Through  accidental 
circumstances  my  name  was  prominently  connected  with  that  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
— a  gentleman  with  whom  I  am  but  slightly  acquainted — and  (to  my  know- 
ledge )  I  am  supposed  to  be  an  adherent  of  any  set  or  party  to  which  he  may 
belong,  at  all  events  to  be  an  opponent  of  the  Art  Movement. 

"  My  life-long  intimacy  with  the  founder  of  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  has  not 
prevented  this  misconception. 

'*  Yet  if  you  would  once  again  refer  to  'Jonas  Fisher/  Part  III.,  verses  188- 
2*25,  you  would  see  my  views  plainly  set  down,  and  surely  without  a  touch  of 
approval  of  anything  approa*  hing  to  prudery  or  puritanism. 

"  The  whole  book  is  meant  as  a  protest  against  narrowness  of  view. 

"  It  never  was  my  intention  to  assail  any  individual  or  any  party  except  on 
the  grounds  of  some  special  offence  against  what  seems  to  me  good  art  as  well 
as  good  morals  —in  the  wide,  not  the  puritanical,  sense. 

"  I  do  not  retract  one  word  in  'Jonas  Fisher '  -my  object  is  to  remove 
conception  of  my  aims  and  motives." 


"JONAS  FISHER,"  AND  ROBERT  BUCHANAN.  75 

Poets,"  published  in  1866.  At  that  time  he  had  never  seen  Mr. 
Swinburne,  although  in  the  poem  he  ridiculed  his  personal  ap- 
pearance and  manner ;  and  he  stated  generally  that  he  lavished 
about  as  much  abuse  on  Mr.  Swinburne,  Mr.  Eossetti,  and  others  of 
the  "  Fleshly  School,"  as  he  could  put  his  pen  to. 

In  the  defence  objection  was  taken  to  Mr.  Buchanan  asserting 
himself  as  an  authority,  and  constituting  himself  the  censor  of  the 
morals  of  England,  and  on  the  ground  that  he,  too,  had  written 
works  of  questionable  decency  and  of  doubtful  morality,  such  as 
"Liz,"  "The  Little  Milliner,"  "The  Last  of  the  Hangmen,"  and 
*  Nell w — from  which  various  extracts  were  read  in  court,  as  also 
the  following  passage  from  "  The  "White  Rose  and  Red" : — " 

"  Till  with  passionate  sensation, 
Body  and  brain  began  to  burn, 
And  he  yielded  to  the  bursting, 
Burning,  blinding,  hungering,  thirsting 
Passion  felt  by  beasts  and  men  ! 
And  his  eyes  caught  love  and  rapture, 
And  he  held  her  close  in  capture, 
Kissing  lips  that  kiss'd  again." 

And  another  of  a  still  more  questionable  kind  from  a  poem  entitled 
"  The  Nuptial  Song,"  which  closes  thus : — 

"  As  freely  as  maids  give  a  lock  away, 
She  gave  herself  unto  him  ; 
What  was  the  bridegroom  !  Clay,  common  clay, 

Yet  the  wild  joy  slipt  through  him. 
He  kissed  her  lips,  he  drank  her  breath  in  bliss, 

lie  drew  her  to  his  bosom — 
As  a  clod  kindles  at  the  Spring's  first  kiss, 
His  being  burst  to  blossom." 

Mr.  Hawkins,  Q.C.,  who  appeared  for  the  defence,  said  to  the 
jury:— 

"  I  shall  ask  you  to  consider  whether  the  works  of  Mr.  Buchanan  have 
made  for  him  that  mark  in  the  literature  of  his  country  as  to  entitle  him  to 
make  the  attacks  he  haa  made  upon  Rossetti  and  Swinburne.  How  does 
he  begin?  He  produces  the  '  Session  of  Poets,*  and  introduces  Mr.  8win- 
Here  is  a  poem  written  in  I860,  in  which  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan 


76  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

professes  to  bring  together  the  leading  British  poets.  There  are  a  good 
many  of  them,  bnt  if  yon  take  in  the  first  rank  a  round  dozen  it  is  saying  a 
good  deal,  and  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan  immediately  dots  himself  down  in  the 
first  rank  of  the  dozen,  and  no  doubt  in  the  'Session  of  Poets'  he  could 
with  much  greater  brilliancy  have  taken  the  chair  at  that  literary  assembly 
than  Alfred  Tennyson  himself. 

"This,  gentlemen,  is  the  poet  who  has  made  his  mark  in  the  literature  of 
his  country !  Mr.  Gladstone  must  have  thought  highly  of  him  when  he 
granted  him  a  pensiou,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  Mr.  Gladstone  had  pre* 
viously  read  the  classic  effusion  I  have  quoted,  or  his  "  Liz,"  or  his  "  Little 
Milliner,"  or  even  "The  Last  of  the  Hangmen."  Well,  if  you  do  not  call 
this  the  '  iily  Hist  of  the  gutter,'  I  don't  know  where  you  will  find  one. 

"Thus,  in  one  poem,  I  find  a  coster  girl,  who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  St.  Giles's,  and  fell  into  a  difficulty  with  a  gentleman,  who  himself  pur- 
sued a  course  of  life  which  ultimately  brought  him  to  the  gallows.  Another 
poem  is  entitled  *  Liz.'  Here  is  the  life  of  a  wretchedly  poor  girl,  who  has 
been  seduced  by  one  of  the  low  persons  who  inhabit  the  same  classical 
locality  I  have  already  mentioned,  and  who  has  got  an  illegitimate  child. 
These  are  the  stories  in  which  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan  delights.  He  has 
written  under  various  names,  and  has  libelled  other  people.  He  lias  used 
hard  words  of  other  people,  and,  considering  the  things  that  he  had  written 
himself,  he  could  hardly  complain  if  some  people  thought  fit  also  to  pull 
them  to  pieces. " 

It  was  also  contended  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  gravely  transgressed 
the  bounds  of  decorum  in  his  personal  attacks  upon  Mr.  Swinburne, 
notably  in  the  lines  : — 

"  Up  jumped,  with  his  neck  stretching  out  like  a  gander, 

Master  Swinburne,  and  squeal'd  glaring  out  thro'  his  hair, 
All  virtue  is  bosh !  Hallelujah  for  Landor  ! 
I  disbelieve  wholly  in  everything  ! — there  !  " 

and  further  on,  where  he  accuses  him  of  being  carried  out  of  the 
meeting  in  a  tipsy  condition.  Then,  as  the  judge  pointed  out,  Mr. 
Buchanan's  mode  of  criticising  the  poets  of  the  "  Fleshly  School M 
was  calculated  to  do  more  harm  than  good,  he  having  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  quote  much  that  was  lewd  and  reprehensible 
in  the  poems,  and  in  fact,  he  added,  he  thought  it  a  great  pity  the 
case  had  ever  come  into  court,  as  it  was  not  creditable  to  either 
party. 


"JONAS  FISHER,"   AND  ROBERT  BUCHANAN.  77 

So  far  as  Mr.  Buchanan  is  concerned  theie  is  little  more  to  note. 
He  has  written  some  poems  and  novels,  and  is  the  author  of 
two  pieces, €l  The  Shadow  of  the  Sword,"  and  "  Lucy  Brandon," 
(founded  on  the  late  Lord  Lytton's  "  Paul  Clifford,"  )  both  of  which 
were  withdrawn  from  the  boards  after  very  brief  careers. 

The  critics  condemned  "The  Shadow  of  The  Sword"  as  a 
tedious  bombastic  production,  unworthy  of  serious  consideration. 
Mr.  Buchanan  naturally  resented  these  unfavourable  remarks,  and 
accused  Mr.  John  Coleman  (who  produced  the  piece  at  the  Olympic 
Theatre),  of  having  grievously  mutilated  the  drama,  stating  also  that 
he  had  been  personally  befooled  and  impoverished. 

Mr.  John  Coleman  replied  that  the  alterations  made  had  received 
Mr.  Buchanan's  full  assent,  and  that  he  had  paid  Mr.  Buchanan 
every  shilling  of  the  purchase  money  agreed  upon  prior  to  the  pro- 
duction of  the  play. 

Two  things  only  are  certain— that  the  piny  was  a  failure,  and 
that  Mr.  Buchanan  was  very  angry  with  the  London  dramatic  critics, 
who  are  incapable,  as  he  asserts,  of  either  civility  or  fair  play. 

As  to  "  Lucy  Brandon,"  which  was  brought  out  at  the  Imperial, 
and  suddenly  withdrawn,  the  author  wrote  that  its  withdrawal 
"  was  entirely  unconnected  with  its  dramatic  success  or  failure," 
but  a  successful  piece  generally  has  a  run  of  more  than  a  few  days. 

To  a  sensitive  nature  possessing  highly-strung  nerves,  the  dis- 
cordant vibrations  of  adverse  criticism  are,  no  doubt,  distressing  ; 
Mr.  Buchanan  appears  to  possess  unusually  susceptible  feelings,  and 
what  is  still  more  unfortunate  for  him,  to  be  incapable  of  concealing 
or  suppressing  them. 

Hence  no  sooner  does  an  uncomplimentary  notice  appear  of  one 
of  his  productions  than  he  writes  to  prove  that  the  critic  is  in  the 
wrong,  and  knows  nothing  of  the  subject  in  hand. 

Critics  usually  are  in  the  wrong,  and,  being  mere  mortals,  cannot 
know,  even  a  little,  about  everything. 

But  the  public  perfectly  understand  all  this,  and  make  allow- 
ances accordingly,  whilst  every  publisher  knows  that  in  so  far  as 
influencing  the  sale  of  a  novel  or  a  poem  the  value  of  a  criticism  is 
often  enhanced  by  its  being  of  an  unfavourable  description,  par- 


78  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

tieularly  if  it  asserts  that  the  work  contains  a  dash  of  impropriety. 
An  historical  or  scientific  book  may  be  damned  by  one  strong  and 
ably-written  condemnatory  review,  but  not  a  poem,  a  novel,  or  a  play, 
else  few,  even  of  the  best  would  have  survived,  as  Mr.  Buchanan 
ought  to  know,  for  he  himself  has  written  some  of  the  most  unsparing 
criticisms  of  exactly  those  works  which  are  now  most  popular.  In 
his  last  novel,  "Tha  Martyrdom  of  Madeline,*  he  has  bitterly 
satirised  the  editors  of  two  society  journals  under  the  thinly-veiled 
names  of  Layanlerv  and  Eibjar  Yahoo,  the  latter  being  described  as 
the  "  social  chiffonier  of  his  age  "  raking  for  garbage  in  the  filth  of 
the  street  and  in  the  sewers ;  whilst  Lagardere  is  painted  as  a  pro- 
fligate, boastful,  ignorant,  lying,  cowanlly  monster,  often  whipped 
and  universally  despised.  Yet  when  this  same  novel  was  noticed  in 
The  Academy  and  the  reviewer,  in  a  mild  manner,  expostulated  with 
the  author  on  the  tone  of  his  book  as  belying  the  promises  of  purity 
contained  in  its  preface,  and  for  attacking  other  men  of  genius  under 
transparently  transliterated  names,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  not  content 
to  accept  a  criticism  which  allowed  him  to  be  a  man  of  genius  and 
reputation,  and  strongly  excited  curiosity  as  to  the  contents  of  his 
novel,  but  wrote  to  the  editor  complaining  that  he  had  long  been 
subjected  to  literary  persecution,  adding  "Though  rudely  assailed, 
I  have  at  least  published  a  description  of  my  persecutors." 

He  compares  himself  to  Don  Quixote  attacking  the  windmills,  but 
the  simile  is  unfortunate,  for  we  nowhere  read  that  the  chivalrous 
knight  complained  afterwards  of  the  windmills'  treatment  of  him. 
So  long  as  Mr.  Buchanan  continues  to  tilt  at  the  windmills  of  the 
press,  so  long  must  he  expect  hard  blows  and  heavy  falls,  and  it 
would  be  wiser  and  more  dignified  not  to  complain  of  the  wounds 
obtained  in  the  fray.  What,  however,  chiefly  concerns  us  in  this 
matter  is  the  somewhat  remarkable  statements  contained  in  this 
letter,  concerning  the  poets  of  the  ^Esthetic  School,  and  in  justice 
to  Mr.  Buchanan  I  will  insert  those  paragraphs  in  full,  premising 
that  the  reviewer  had  accused  him  of  satirising  D.  G.  Rossetti, 
under  the  pseudonym  "  Blanco  Serena,"  and  of  lenewing  his 
attacks  on  his  old  enemies,  the  fleshly  poets.  On  these  points  Mr. 
Buchanan's  language  is  clear  and  distinct,  and  is  highly  creditable, 


"JONAS   FISHER,"   AND  ROBERT  BUCHANAN.  79 

as  a  handsome  acknowledgment  of  the  merits  of  some  with  whom 
he  was  supposed  to  be  at  enmity. 

"  Yonr  reviewer  may  distrust  ray  motives,  he  should  at  least  be  accurate  in 
his  descriptions  of  my  performances.  He  ace  sea  me,  in  the  first  place,  of 
attacking  my  '  old  friends  the  fleshly  poets.'  Who  are  the  fleshly  poets,  so- 
cslled  ?  If  your  reviewer  refers  to  Mr  Swinburne,  to  Mr.  Morris,  to  Mr. 
Rossetti,  and  to  those  whom  I  once  classed  as  their  disciples,  I  beg  leave  to 
re-assert  (in  addition  to  the  disclaimer  in  my  Preface)  that  my  satire  concerna 
not  *Xem,  though  it  may,  I  suppose,  have  a  certain  retrospective  application  to 
writings  which  were  merely  a  phase  of  their  genius.  Hr.  Swinburne  has  long 
left  the  pastoral  region  shepherded  by  the  impeccable  (J  in  tier  ;  he  has  risen 
to  heights  of  clear  and  beautiful  purpose,  where  I  gladly  do  homage  to  him. 
Mr.  Morris  may  be  passed  by  without  a  word  ;  he  needs  no  apology  of  mine. 
Mr.  Rossetti,  I  freely  admit  now,  never  was  a  fleshly  poet  at  all ;  never,  at 
any  rate,  fed  upon  the  poisonous  honey  of  French  art  Who,  then,  remains 
to  complain  of  misinterpretation  ?  If  your  reviewer  had  said  that  I  satirized 
Gautier  and  his  school  of  pseudo-aesthetics,  and  their  possible  pupils  in  this 
country,  he  would  ht ve  been  within  his  right 

"One  word  more.  Your  reviewer  insinuates  (there  is  no  mistaking  his 
inuendo)  that  a  certain  character  in  my  ftory  is  a  shadow-picture  of  the  late 
Mr.  Dante  Rossetti.  To  show  the  injustice  of  this  supposition,  I  will  simply 
ask  your  readers  ti  compare  the  lineaments  of  my  Rlanco  Serena,  a  society- 
hunting,  worldly-minded,  iosincere,  but  good-humoured,  faihit.nnblc  painter, 
with  the  literary  image  of  Mr.  Rossetti,  a  solitude-loving,  unworldly, 
thoroughly  sincere  and  earnest,  if  sometimes  saturnine,  man  of  genius  »"*  revolt 
agninM,  Society.  I  wish  to  have  no  mistake  on  this  to  me,  very  solemn 
matter.  What  I  wrote  of  Mr.  Rossetti,  ten  years  ago,  stands.  What  I  wrote 
of  Mr.  Rossetti  in  the  inscription  of  God  and  the  .l/inn  also  stands.  Time 
brings  about  its  revenges.  Can  the  least  acute  observer  of  literature  have 
failed  to  notice  that  the  so-called  fleshly  school,  in  proportion  aa  it  has  grown 
saner,  purer,  and  more  truly  impassioned  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  has  lost 
its  hold  upon  the  so-called  fleshly  public — even  on  the  dapper  master-millers 
and  miller's  men  of  the  journals  of  nepotism  and  malignity  ?  Certain  of  our 
critics  said  to  certain  of  our  poe^—  *  Go  trat  way  ;  there  liea  the  short  cut  to 
immortality.  But  the  poets,  after  going  a  few  paces,  paused,  recognising,  as 
only  true  poets  can  recognise,  the  easy  descent  to  Acheron. " 

Tli is  letter  appeared  in  The.  Academy,  July  1st,  1882. 

As  closing  this  unpleasant  controversy,  Mr.  T.  Hall  Caine,  in  his 
M  Recollections  of  Rossetti,"  gives  the  following  communication  he 
ltad  recently  received  from  Mr.  R.  Buchanan  : — 


80  THE  ^ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IN   ENGLAND. 

"  In  perfect  frankness,  let  me  say  a  few  words  concerning  our  old  quarrel. 

While  admitting  freely  that  my  article  in  the  Contemporary  Review  was  unjust 

to  Rossetti's  claims  ss  a  poet,  I  hare  ever  held,  and  still  hold,  that  it  contained 

nothing  to  warrant  the  manner  in  which  it  was  received  by  the  poet  anil  his 

,  circle. 

"At  the  time  it  was  written  the  newspapers  were  full  of  panegyric  ;  mine 
was  a  mere  drop  of  gall  in  sn  ocean  of  mu  eucrfe. 

*  *  That  it  could  have  had  on  any  man  the  effect  you  describe,  I  can  scarcely 
believe  ;  indeed,  I  think  that  no  living  man  had  so  little  to  complain  of  as 
Kossetti,  on  the  score  of  criticism.  Well,  my  protest  was  received  in  a  way 
which  turned  irritation  into  wrath,  wrath  into  violence  ;  and  then  ensued  the 
piper  war  which  lasted  for  years.  If  you  compare  what  I  have  written  of 
Kossetti  with  what  his  admirers  have  written  of  myself,  I  think  yon  will 
admit  that  there  has  been  some  cause  for  me  to  complain,  to  shun  society,  to 
feel  bitter  against  the  world  ;  but,  happily,  I  have  a  thick  epidermis,  and  the 
courage  of  an  approving  conscience.  I  was  unjust,  as  I  have  said  ;  most 
unjust  when  I  impugned  the  purity  and  misconceived  the  passion  of  writings 
too  hurriedly  read  and  reviewed  eurrente  ealamo :  but  I  was  at  least  honest 
and  fearless,  and  wrote  with  no  persoual  malignity.  Save  for  the  action  of  the 
literary  defence,  if  1  may  so  term  it,  my  article  would  have  been  as  ephemeral 
as  the  mood  which  induced  its  composition.  I  make  full  ad  mission  of  Ros- 
setti's claims  to  the  purest  kind  of  literary  renown,  and  if  I  were  to  criticise 
his  poems  note,  I  should  write  very  differently.  But  nothing  will  shake  u  y 
conviction  that  the  cruelty,  the  unfairness,  the  pusillanimity,  has  been  on  the 
other  side,  not  on  miue.  The  amende  of  my  Dedication  in  God  and  the  Man  was 
a  sacred  thing  ;  between  his  spirit  aud  miue  :  not  between  my  character  and  the 
cowards  who  have  attacked  it.  1  thought  he  would  understand — which  would 
have  Wen,  and  indeed  in,  sufficient.  I  cried,  and  cry,  no  truce  with  the  horde 
of  slanderers  who  h:d  themselves  within  his  shadow.  That  is  al!.  Rut  when 
all  is  said,  there  still  remains  the  pity  that  our  quarrel  should  ever  have  been. 
Our  little  lives  are  too  short  lor  such  animosities.  Your  friend  is  at  peace  with 
God — that  God  who  will  justify  and  cherish  him,  who  has  dried  hi,  tears,  and 
who  will  turn  the  shadow  of  his  sad  life-dream  into  full  sunshine.  My  only 
regret  now  is  that  we  did  not  meet — that  1  did  not  take  him  by  the  hand ;  bnt 
1  am  old-fashioned  enough  to  believe  that  this  world  is  only  a  prelude, 
and  that  our  meeting  may  take  place  yet." 

Just  a  short  time  before  his  death  Kossetti  had  heard  of 
Buchanan's  retractation  of  the  charges  involved  in  the  article  on  the 
"  Fleshly  School,"  and  was  strangely  touched  by  the  pathetic  dedi- 
cation to  him  of  Buchanan's  romance,  Oud  ami  the  Man  : — 


"JONAS  FISHER"  AND  ROBERT  BUCHANAN.  81 

To  an  Old  Enemy. 
I  would  hare  snatch'd  a  bay  leaf  from  thy  brow, 
Wronging  the  chaplet  on  an  honoured  head  ; 
In  peace  and  charity  I  briog  thee  now 
A  lily  flower  iustead. 

Pure  as  thy  purpose,  blameless  as  thy  song, 
Sweet  as  thy  spirit,  may  this  offering  be  ; 
Forget  the  bitter  blame  that  did  thee  wrong, 
And  take  the  gift  from  me  ? 

In  a  later  edition  (after  the  death  of  Rossetti),  the  following 
were  added  to  the  dedication  : — 

To  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 
Calmly,  thy  royal  robe  of  death  around  thee, 

Thou  aleepest,  and  weeping  brethren  round  thee  stand. 
Gently  they  placed,  ere  yet  God's  angel  crowned  thee, 
My  lily  in  thy  hand  ! 

I  never  knew  thee  living,  O  my  brother  ! 

But  on  thy  breast  my  lily  of  lore  now  lies ; 
And  by  that  token,  we  shall  know  each  other, 
When  God's  Toice  saitb,  "  Arise  !M 

That  Mr.  Buchanan  means  well  there  can  he  no  doubt ;  he,  at 
least,  is  on  the  side  of  the  angels ;  if  he  will  be  a  little  more  tolerant 
of  others,  and  learn  to  chafe  less  under  the  lash  of  the  critics,  he 
will  win  public  opinion  over  to  his  side,  and  then  he  may  defy  the 
reviewers  to  do  their  worst  But  of  all  things  the  British  public 
most  dislike  a  man  with  a  grievance. 


«; 


PUNCHY  THICKS   6N  WE  JRfXfOXRfL 


HE  trial  of  Buchanan  v.  Taylor  being  over,  the  u  Jonas 
Fisher"  controversy  was  soon  forgotten,  and  for 
several  years  the  ^Esthetic  School  enjoyed  a  tolerable 
immunity  from  similar  attacks.  In  a  quiet,  unosten- 
tatious, but  most  effective  manner,  it  was  gaining 
converts ;  its  canons  of  criticism,  and  its  dictates  in 
matters  of  taste  were  being  largely  adopted  by  the  cultivated  of 
both  sexes,  and  its  influence  on  art,  poetry,  dress,  and  furniture, 
was  visible  in  every  direction. 

Then  it  was  that  Mr.  Du  Maurier  took  the  subject  up  in  the 
pages  of  Punch,  and  commenced  a  series  of  caricatures  which  one 
would  imagine  to  be  grossly  exaggerated  but  that,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  the  talented  artist  is  so  great  a  favourite  with  the  aristocracy 
that  his  representations  o*.  the  dukes  and  duchesses,  lords  and 
ladies,  constantly  appearing  in  Punch,  must  needs  be  truthful  and 
correct,  as  he  spends  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  the  study  of 
such  exalted  personages  in  their  own  elegant  saloons  and  boudoirs. 
It  is  to  be  a  little  regretted  that  it  is  so,  for  to  the  general  run  of 
Englishmen,  who  have  not  the  entrt(e  to  such  select  society,  it 
savours  somewhat  of  toadyism,  this  constant  reference  to  titled 
persons  and  exclusive  society  ;  besides,  the  subject  becomes  some- 
what monotonous,  Specially  as  all  the  ladies  are  so  very  much  alike, 
and  the  fun,  what  pf  it  there  is,  is  of  such  an  extremely  refined  and 
drawing-room  description. 

By  way  of  an  introduction  into  what  our  French   friends  call  Le 


PUNCH'S  ATTACKS  ON  THE  .ESTHETES.  83 

Hig  Life,  I  quote  one  of  Mr.  Du  Manner's  latest  sketches,  and  leave 
the  intelligent  reader  to  form  his  own  opinion  as  to  the  possibility 
of  such  a  dialogue  (probability  being  entirely  out  of  the  question). 

"Mrs.  Poxsoxbydk  Tomktxi  Loses  Her  Temper.— Mrs.  P.  de  T.'s 
Last  New  Duchess  (graciously  unbending):  "When  I  came  here  before, 
Madame  Gaminot  was  here  ;  hut  she  wouldn't  sing— she  'took  her  hook,'  as 
Cadbury  called  it— went  away,  yon  know !"  Mrs.  P.  de  T.  :  "  Yes  ;  and  so 
did  your  Grace  and  Lord  Cadbury,  in  consequence."  Her  Grace  :  "  A— just 
so.  Who's  that  very  funny  person  talking  to  Mr.  Whatshisname— Thing- 
ummy you  know — your  clever  icriting  friend,  from  America  ?  Is  she  a  comic 
singer,  and  will  she  sing  ?"  Mrs.  P.  de  T.  :  •■  No,  I  don't  think  she'll  sing. 
That  very  funny  person  is  my  friend,  Lady  Midas."  Her  Grace  (tcho always 
speaks  her  mind)  What !  And  pray,  Mrs.  Tompkyns,  are  there  no  ladies  left 
in  England,  that  /  should  be  asked  here  to  dine  with  the  wife  of  a  successful 
sausage  maker f*  Mrs,  P.  de  T.  :  ••  You  were  asked  here  to  dine  with  Mr. 
Whatshisname,  duchess— (Thingummy,  you  know)  !  You  yourself  asked  me 
to  ask  you  to  meet  him  ;  and  I  am  only  too  glad  to  have  such  an  opportunity 
of  showing  my  clever  writing  friend  from  America  that  there  are  some  ladies 
•till  left  in  England,  and  very  great  ladies  too  " — (Her  Grace  boxes  stiffly)— 
**  who  can't  even  behave  as  decently  as  a  sausage-matt  r's  wife !  But  perhaps 
your  Grace  would  prefer  to— a— take  your  Grace's  hook  ?  Shall  I  ring  and 
order  your  carriage  ?"  [Her  Grace  reflects  that  her  carriage  is  gone —loses  her 
head— stammers— dines — apologises,  and  is  quite  civil  to  Lady  Midas  after 
dinner.] 

Punch  makes  one  sigh  at  times  for  the  manly  style  and  fresh  breezy 
humour  of  John  Leech,  bold,  vigorous,  and  thoroughly  English, 
whose  girls  were  real,  merry,  healthy,  laughing,  jolly  girls,  not  the 
sickly,  namby-pamby, over-dressed,  aU-alike-at-the-price,  young  ladies 
of  Mr.  Du  Maurier,  whose  ideal  of  female  beauty  consists  of  one 
stereotyped  face  at  the  top  of  an  abnormally  tall  and  slender  figure. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  in  proportion  to  the  accessories  in 
his  pictures,  the  ladies  must  frequently  stand  over  six  feet  in 
height,  and  that  the  rule*  of  perspective  are  entirely  ignored. 

The  latter  failing  is  so  constant  that  it  probably  arises  from  a  defect 
of  vision.  A  few  weeks  since  there  was  a  full  page  drawing  in  Putirh 
with  the  title  :  "  Not  fond  of  steering  ! — Just  ain't  we,  though  !  " 
The  epigraph  was  a  trifle  slangy  ;  yet  the  picture  was  full  of  anima- 

O  2 


84  THE  ESTHETIC'  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

lion,  but  how  about  the  perspective  t    Some  one  writing  to  The 
Illustrated  London  News  thus  worked  it  out : — 

"  Takicg  the  height  of  the  lady  polling  '  stroke '  in  her  slightly  heat  atti- 
tude at  only  five  feet,  and  fixing  the  gentleman  in  the  stern  (whose  knees, 
only,  sppear)  ss  the  spectator,  I  work  on  the  represented  size  of  the  lady  in 
the  bows,  aid  mske  the  distance  between  the  stroke  snd  bows  twenty-seven 
and  a  half  feet.  Allowing  fcr  the  distance  from  the  prow  and  stern  to  the 
two  rowers  mentioned,  the  craft  cannot  measure  less  than  from  fifty  to  fifty- 
four  feet  from  stem  to  stern  ;  while  the  width  of  beam  is  about  five  feet." 

We  must,  however,  for  the  want  of  a  better,  accept  Du  Maurier 
as  the  leading  Society  artist  on  Punch. 

John  Tenniel  confines  himself  to  the  cartoons  which,  though  they 
are  frequently  highly  finished,  have  not  the  same  vigour  they  had 
some  years  since,  and  for  political  ideas  simply  embody  the  ever- 
changing  moods  expressed  in  the  leaders  of  the  Times  newspaper. 

Linley  Samboume's  style  is  peculiar,  and  only  fitted  to  delineate 
the  odd  fancies  of  his  own  brain ;  clever,  quaint,  and  original  they 
are,  but  they  are  not  Socitty  pictures. 

Charles  Keene  does  well,  and  would  do  better  in  this  branch  of 
art,  if  his  execution  only  equalled  his  conception.  His  ideas  are  fre- 
quently humorous  and  funny,  but  his  drawing  is  hopelessly  scratchy 
and  muddled,  many  of  his  faces  being  destitute  of  any  human 
expression  whatever,  whilst  occasionally  the  features  are  missing 
altogether,  nothing  but  the  outlines  being  visible. 

So,  for  the  Society  sketches,  Du  Maurier  takes  the  lead,  and  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  some  of  his  drawings  are  highly  finished  re- 
presentations of  those  refined  and  cultivated,  but  somewhat  foolish 
members  of  Society,  who  imagine  that  the  world  was  created  for 
their  especial  benefit,  and  that  nothing  is  worthy  of  one  moment's 
consideration  that  is  outside  the  narrow  range  of  the  Peerage,  and 
that  no  one  can  be  any  one  whose  name  is  not  included  in  that 
magic  list  of  the  Upper  Ten  Thousand.  His  scope  is  limited,  his 
subjects  monotonous,  and  his  humour,  what  little  there  is  of  it,  is 
of  a  mildly  conventional  and  eminently  respectable  type. 

It  is  ciuite  in  accordance  with  the  traditions  of  Punch  to  attack 


I*UNCH*S  ATTACKS  ON*  THE  .tSTHKTRS.  85 

the  ^Esthetic  movement :  from  the  first  it  has  been  a  combative 
journal;  at  one  time,  through  ridiculing  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  (a  topic  which  gentlemen  do  not  usually  jest  about),  it  lost 
one  of  its  best  contributors,  namely  Richard  Doyle.  Then  in  1847 
it  savagely  satirized  Alfred  Bunn,  or  "  Poet  Bunn,"  as  he  was 
styled  (the  author  of  "  I  dreamt  that  I  dwelt  in  marble  halls," 
"  When  other  lips  and  other  hearts,"  &c)  but  Bunn  was  not  easily 
frightened  ;  be  issued  a  paper  entitled  "  A  Word  with  Punch"  in 
which  he  dealt  such  hard  and  telling  blows  that  henceforth  Mr. 
Punch  finding  discretion  better  than  valour,  ceased  his  attacks  on 
the  "  Hot  cross  Bunn." 

A  Word  with  Punch,  by  Alfred  Bunn,  dated  November,  1847, 
consisted  of  12  pages  the  same  size  as  Punch,  and  with  a  frontis- 
piece which  singularly  resembled  that  of  the  Punch  of  that  time, 
but  on  closer  examination  it  is  seen  that  Mr.  Punch  is  in  the  pillory, 
surrounded  by  the  celebrities  of  the  day. 

The  articles  it  contains  are  especially  severe  upon  Douglas 
Jerrold,  Gilbert  a  Beckett  and  Mark  Lemon  (then  the  principal  con- 
tributors to  Punch),  who  are  respectively  styled,  Wronghead, 
Sleckhead,  and  Thickhead. 

The  draughtsman  employed  by  Mr.  Bunn  to  illustrate  the  paper 
was  no  mean  caricaturist,  Mark  Lemon  is  shown  as  a  pot  boy  (it  is 
said  he  once  kept  a  small  public  house). 

The  savagely  sarcastic  Douglas  Jerrold  appears  as  a  serpent ;  a 
man  he  was,  as  Bunn  says,  of  undoubted  genius,  but  sarcastic,  spite- 
ful and  vindictive.  -, 

Gilbert  a  Beckett  is  attired  in  a  lawyer's  gown  and  wig,  with  a 
demon's  tail  and  hoofs.  Mr.  Bunn  enumerates  the  number  of  small 
rubbishing  papers  G.  a  B.  had  edited,  describes  his  unsuccessful 
lessecship  of  the  Fitzroy  Theatre,  Fitzroy  Street,  Tottenham  Court 
Road,  and  cites  the  petition  to  the  Insolvent  Debtors  Court,  in 
which  G.  a  B.  described  himself  as  formerly  a  gentleman,  after- 
wards an  editor,  as  if  the  two  were  incompatible. 

Mr.  Bunn  asserts  that  the  circulation  of  Punch  had  once  reached 
70,000,  bat  that  it  was  then  only  30,000,  and  he  concludes  his 


86  THE  AESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

paper  thus: — "Your  puppets,  who  have  assailed,  ridiculed,  and 
caricatured  me  for  years,  without  any  reason  whatever,  will  not  in 
common  consistency,  abandon  this  branch  of  their  trade  now  I  have 
given  them  reason ;  and  without  thinking  what  cause  they  have 
given  me,  will  go  again  at  their  dirty  work. 

"  In  that  case,  I  am  prepared  to  pay  back  any  compliment  I 
receive  with  the  highest  rate  of  interest  allowed  by  law,  and  shall 
let  you,  and  perhaps  them,  into  a  secret  or  two  worth  knowing." 

On  the  back  are  burlesque  advertisements  of  the  period,  and  at 
the  foot  a  pill  and  draught  with  the  label : — 

"This  dot*  to  be  repeated  should  the  patients  require  it. 

Wronghead, 
Sleekhead, 
Thickhead.* 

Prefixed  to  the  copy  in  the  British  Museum  is  the  following  note 
signecPby  the  Antiquary,  F.  W.  Fairholt. 

**This  severe  piece  of  personality  was  deservedly  called  forth  by  the  un- 
justiaable  attacks  made  by  the  Punch  writers  on  Bunn.  He  appears  only  to 
have  been  guilty  of  not  flattering  their  vanity  sufficiently,  or  employing  them 
as  authors ;  daring  also  to  write  librettos  for  Balfe's  operas  ( Bunn  being  con- 
nected with  Covent  Garden  and  Drury  Lane).  Unfortunately  for  them  he 
knew  too  much  of  their  antecedents ;  and  after  much  provocation,  produced 
this  pamphlet.  It  was  a  conclusive  blow,  and  they  never  afterwards  attacked 
him.  It  was  too  true  to  be  pleasant,  and  has  been  industriously  bought  up 
and  destroyed,  so  that  it  is  now  very  scarce." 

The  next  individual  chosen  as  the  butt  for  its  pitiless  scorn 
was  Prince  Albert,  whose  appearance,  public  actions,  and  broken 
English  came  in  for  many  personal  attacks,  which  were  no  doubt 
prompted  by  good  taste  against  a  well-meaning  foreigner,  whose 
high  position  prevented  him  from  retaliating,  and  whose  cultivated 
tastes  and  efforts  towards  the  improvement  of  the  people,  and  the 
dress  of  the  soldiers,  offered  splendid  targets  for  satire,  and  careful, 
consistent,  and  long-continued  misrepresentation. 

Lord  Beaconsfield's  Jewish  birth,  his  somewhat  singular  personal 
appearance,  and  Lis  little  harmless  fopperies,  also  lent  themselves 
admirably  to  caricature ;  and  so,  throughout  the  chapter,  the  shafts 


PUNCH'S  ATTACKS  ON  THE  ifSTHETES.  87 

of  ridicule  have  been  levelled  first  at  one  and  then  at  another  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  time,  including  Lord  Brougham,  for  his  ugliness, 
and  the  late  Harrison  A  ins  worth  and  Lord  Lytton  (then  Sir  Edward 
Bulwer-Lytton)  for  their  good  looks. 

Once,  when  Punch  had  grossly  insulted  the  late  Lord  Mayo,  the 
Globe  struck  a  heavy  blow  at  his  folly  and  indecency,  concluding 
the  article  by  asking : — 

"  Why  should  Punch  pretend  to  be  a  comic  publication  ?  The  answers 
will  no  doubt  be  various.  Some  will  say  because  it  once  had  a  Jerrold  and 
a  Thackeray  on  its  staff.  But  and  alas  !  Punch's  own  pages  prove  that 
Jerrold  and  Thackeray  are  dead.  Shall  Punch  be  famous  as  a  wit  1>ecause 
Burnand  can  be  boisterous,  because  Brooks  are  shallow,  or  because  it  takes 
nine  Tailors  to  make  a  man  ?  We,  too,  give  it  up.  Only  we  would  say, 
that  we  regret  the  years  which  bring  us  our  friend  Punch  in  a  form  which 
compels  us  to  say,  he  has  only  such  politics  as  consist  in  the  vulgarization 
of  The  Times,  and  that  he  is,  when  not  feebly  xpitefnl,  simply  inane." 

However  much  these,  and  other  spiteful  personal  attacks,  may 
have  helped  the  circulation  of  Punch  (for  the  vulgar  herd  like  to 
see  their  betters  turned  to  scorn),  they  cannot  be  said  to  have  in- 
creased its  reputation,  and  when  brave  old  George  Cruikshank  was 
asked,  not  once,  but  several  times,  to  contribute  to  its  pages,  he 
replied,  "  No ;  I  never  have  had,  and  never  will  have  anything 
to  do  with  it,"  and  he  never  did,  for  no  single  line  from  the  pencil 
of  the  greatest  humourist  of  the  century  ever  appeared  in  Punch. 

Our  American  Cousins,  with  their  keen  sense  of  humour,  ami 
intense,  but  quiet  appreciation  of  the  truly  witty,  arc  constantly  re- 
marking upon  the  dearth  of  really  comic  writing  in  our  periodicals. 
The  New  York  Tribune  observed  some  time  since  : — 

*'  Upon  examining  a  number  of  the  professedly  comic  newspapers  which 
are  printed  in  London,  we  have  been  surprised  to  observe  how  little  wit  or 
humour  appears  to  satisfy  the  English  public  We  found  in  Puncht  in 
Judy,  and  in  Fun,  hardly  anything  except  puns.  A  fatal  objection  to  this 
species  of  drollery  is,  that  it  speedily  becomes  intolerably  tiresome,  not  less 
in  print  than  in  conversation,  and  thus  defeats  in  the  most  dismal  way  its  own 
facetious  purpose.  A  pun,  which  is  no  more  than  a  pun,  and  which  does 
not  include  that  suggestion  of  likeness  in  incongruity  which  is  the  essence 
of  wit,  is  really  worthless,  and  quite  within  the  capacity  of  the  dullest  of 


83  THE    .ESTHETIC    MOVEMENT   IN    ENCLANl). 

mortals.  This  is  irritating  enough  in  colloqoisl  interconrse  ;  but  there  are 
some  half-a-dozen  weekly  journals  in  London  which  make  it  their  whole 
business  to  furnish  puns  to  the  British  public,  and  do  that  business  with  a 
reckless  and  truly  astonishing  disregard  of  sense  and  literary  decency." 

Surely  Macaulay  most  have  been  fresh  from  reading  a  number  of 
PuncJt,  when  he  wrote — 

44  A  wise  man  might  talk  folly  like  this  by  his  own  fireside  ;  but  that  any 
human  being,  after  having  made  such  jokes,  should  write  them  down,  copy 
them  out,  and  transmit  them  to  the  printer,  correct  the  proof-sheets,  and 
send  them  forth  into  the  world,  is  enough  to  make  us  ashamed  of  our 
species." 

But  humourist*  and  satirists,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  a  miserably 
weakly  set  now-a-days.  Caricature,  which  was  once  a  deadly 
weapon,  is  now  but  another  means  of  advertising,  and  so  far  fiom 
being  withered  by  the  pictures  (and  they  are  at  times  pretty  pictures) 
published  al>out  them,  ^Esthetes  have  only  flourished  the  more,  and 
they  now  openly  avow  and  practise  that  JEtheticisin  which  pre- 
viously they  felt  almost  bound  to  restrain  within  their  own 
immediate  circle  of  acquaintances. 

The  /Esthetic  business  having  drawn  so  well  in  the  pages  of  a 
comic  paper,  it  was  not  surprising  that  two  theatres  should  proceed 
to  ridicule  .Ksthcticism.  There  is  one  curious  incident  in  this  con- 
nection which  should  not  be  passed  over.  This  is,  that  the  authors 
who  supplied  these  two  theatres  were  at  mortal  enmity  because  one 
forestalled  the  other  with  regard  to  what  both  of  them  believed  to 
be  a  great  original  notion,  the  notion  of  making  fun  out  of  the 
/Esthetic  movement  Perhaps  it  was  original,  as  originality  goes  in 
these  times.  If  so,  originality  may  well  walk  hand  in  hand  with 
comicality —  I  mean  the  comicality  of  the  comic  papers. 

44  Theu  stood  a  senile  God  upon  the  floor, 
"Who  used  to  keep  Hoeprintus  in  a  roar, 
But  who,  grown  old  and  feeble,  could  not  last, 
Save  for  his  reputation  in  the  past, 
lione  are  his  Wits,  his  Leech  that  once  we  saw 
(And  what  a  splendid  Leech  he  was  to  draw), 
His  Jerrold,  Thackeray,  his  May  hew,  Hood, 


punch's  attacks  ox  TIIK  .ESTItETKS.  89 

His  Lemon,  too,  and  it  is  understood 
.  That  without  Lemon,  Punch  cannot  be  good  ; 

But  still  the  Got!,  for  humour  once  renowned, 
Essayed  to  speak.     His  voice  in  groans  w.is  drowned  ; 
Loud  shout  the  Gods,  his  prosiness  to  baulk, 
•  Well  see  your  pictures,  but  you  must  qot  talk.' 
So,  sat  the  aged  and  effete  Buffoon, 
Content  to  circulate  his  last  cartoon." 

But  since  the  above  lines  were  written,  some  years  ago,  even 
Punch's  cartoons  have  lost  their  power  to  interest  or  amuse,  whilst 
they  are  occasionally  in  execrable  taste,  as  for  I  instance  was  that 
published  the  week  following  the  assassination  of  Lord  Frederick 
Cavendish,  when  Tenniel  could  find  no  topic  more  appropriate  than  a 
silly  sneer  at  Mr.  Forster,  who  was  represented  as  frightened  away 
from  Ireland  by  assassins.  Not  only  was  the  portrait  of  Mr.  Forster 
miserably  drawn,  but  to  represent  him  as  leaving  his  perilous 
duties  in  Ireland,  through  fear  of  his  enemies,  was  a  gross  li!>el  on 
the  former  Chief  Secretary,  who  had  boldly  visited  the  most  disturbed 
districts  of  Ireland,  and  had  exposed  hit  isclf  fearlessly  in  the  midst 
of  yelling  crowds  of  hostile  natives. 

If  these  things  were  witty,  one  might  pardon  their  spite,  but  as 
Disraeli  wrote  some  years  since,  "  Cannot  you  keep  your  friend 
Punch  in  order  ?  He  gets  malevolent  without  being  playful/' 
This  is  the  explanation  of  his  waning  influence,  and  if  I  have  been 
somewhat  severe  in  my  comments  upon  Pundt,  I  have  but  to  draw 
attention  to  his  persistent  attacks  upon  everything  connected  with 
the  ^Esthetic  movement  to  prove  a  justification.  Admitted  that 
some  foolish  people  affect  the  style  and  the  dress,  and  exaggerate 
the  tone,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  true  ^Estheticism  has  worked  a 
vast  amount  of  good,  and  to  continue  to  sneer  at  those  who  origin* 
ated  the  movement,  does  not  prove  them  to  be  in  the  wrong,  but 
goes  to  show  that  he  who  sneers  is  a  somewhat  prejudiced,  ignorant, 
and  foolish  individual. 

When  one  thinks  of  the  great  work  that  was  done  by  carica- 
turists and  comic  writers  in  the  days  that  are  gone,  it  is  difficult  to 
help  blushing  for  the  stuff  that  is  now  regarded  as  caricature  and 


90  THE  AESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

comic  writing.  Hogarth  and  Gillray,  Rowlandson,  Cruikshank, 
and  *'  H.  B.,"  Rabelais,  Swift  and  Sterne,  Smollett  and  Defoe,  are  in 
these  day  8  voted  coarse,  and  only  fit  for  common  people.  They 
may  have  been  coarse  and  common,  also ;  but  the  work  they  did 
was  of  vast  benefit  to  the  community.  Without  its  coarseness  and 
its  commonness,  so  also  was  the  work  done  a  generation  ago  by 
John  Leech  and  Douglas  Jerrold,  by  Albert  Smith,  Richard  Doyle 
and  William  Makepeace  Thackeray.  If  anyone  turns  to  the 
earliest  and  best  days  of  Punch,  he  will  find  it  devoted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  subjects  which  would  not  for  a  moment  be  tolerated 
in  its  present  superfine  pages.  The  Punch  which  paved  the  way 
for  its  effeminate  namesake  of  to-day  would  be  voted  vulgar, 
personal,  and  scurrilous  now,  and  unfit  for  the  perusal  of  the  very 
genteel  classes.  Still,  it  served  its  purpose,  and  made  the  paper  so 
powerful  that  its  bygone  reputation  can  now  be  safely  traded  upon 
by  a  staff  of  twaddlers,  and  plagiarists,  artistic  and  literary. 

Punch  is  now  but  a  poor  feeble  old  man,  who  makes  a  great 
parade  of  his  highly-refined  feelings,  his  polished  manners,  and 
his  classical  education,  never  losing  an  opportunity  to  introduce 
a  Greek  or  Latin  quotation,  whilst  always  sneering  at  any  luckless 
author  who  should  happen  to  do  the  same.  Indeed,  if  there  is  one 
thing  more  than  another  that  the  Punch  contributors  pride  them- 
selves on,  it  is  their  knowledge  of  foreign  languages,  a  know- 
ledge which  is  useful,  so  far  as  it  goes,  as  it  enables  them  occa- 
sionally to  borrow  a  little  joke  from  the  French  and  German  comic 
papers  ;  and  having  exhausted  every  witticism  that  the  poor  weak 
English  language  is  capable  of,  they  fall  back  (like  Spanish  cows) 
upon  French,  and  this  is  their  idea  of 

Light  Refreshment. 
(For  the  Devotees  of  Sired  net*  and  Lujht. ) 

AN   AESTHETIC  MENU. 

Lis  en  branches  au  naturei 

Pleura  de  tournesol  a  1'oriflaninie. 

Poissons  touches  a  la  dado. 

Cnisse  de  cicogne  tout  au  long. 

Tete  d'epouvantail  a  la  Botticelli. 

Compote  de  fruit  defendu  a  la  Baudelaire  fortement 


PUNCH'S  ATTACKS  ON  THE  jESTHETES.  91 

After  Mr.  Du  Maurier  had  pretty  well  used  up  the  subject  of  the 
^Esthetic  School  in  a  somewhat  impersonal  and  not  unkindly 
manner,  the  editor  took  up  the  topic,  and  having  a  French  play  (Le 
Man  a  la  Campagne)  to  work  on  as  a  foundation,  he  borrowed  some 
good  situations  from  an  old  play  entitled  "  The  Serious  Family," 
and  by  making  "  The  Colonel"  an  American,  with  a  Yankee  twang 
(a  character  which  entirely  depends  for  its  success  upon  the  actor 
who  represents  it),  with  the  witty  remark,  "  Why,  cert'nly,"  to  be 
repeated  ad  libitum  and  ad  nauseam,  he  manufactured  a  play, 
which  (after  some  difficulty  with  incredulous  managers)  was  pro- 
duced, and  owing  to  the  popular  interest  in  /Estheticism,  obtained 
a  success  its  own  intrinsic  merits  would  never  have  obtained  for  it. 

The  history  of  The  Colonel  is  peculiar.  On  Monday,  the  third  of 
June,  1844,  a  new  comedy  in  three  acts  was  produced  at  the 
Theatre  Francois,  Paris,  entitled  Le  Afari  a  la  Campagne. 

This  amusing  piece  (written  by  Messrs.  Bayard  and  J.  De  Wailly) 
proved  a  success,  and  naturally  it  attracted  the  attention  of  English 
managers.  It  was  admirably  translated  by  Mr.  Morris  Barnett,  and 
under  the  title  of  The  Serious  Family,  was  produced  at  the  Hay- 
market  Theatre  in  184'J,  when  the  late  J.  I>.  Buckstonc  performed 
the  part  of  the  canting  hypocrite  Aminadab  Sleek,  upon  which 
character  Mr.  Burnand  modelled  his  Lambert  Streyke.  In  fact,  in 
reading  Tlic  Serious  Family  one  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the 
audacity  of  the  production  of  The  Colonel  as  an  original  piece ; 
scene  for  scene,  in  some  instances  word  for  word,  does  Mr.  Burnand 
follow  Mr.  Barnett  The  leading  motive  only  is  altered;  in  the  original 
the  hero  is  driven  from  home  by  the  melancholy  puritanical  nature 
of  his  surroundings,  a  very  probable  assumption,  whereas  in  The 
Colonel  the  same  result  is  brought  about  by  the  /Esthetic  mania  of 
the  hero's  wife  and  mother-in-law,  which  is  an  absurdity,  for 
^Estheticism  cannot  but  tend  to  beautify  a  home  and  render  it  more 
attractive  to  its  occupants.  Here  is  a  comparison  of  the  casts  of  the 
two  plays : — 


92  THE  .E.STIIKTIC   MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

The  characters    in    Mr.    Morris  Their  WMintt-rparts  in  Mr.Burnanir* 

Barnett's,  T/u  Serious  Family,  1849.         original  comedy,  The  Colonel,  1881. 


Charles  Torrens.  Richard  Forrester. 

Captain  Murphy  M.guire  (an  Irish-      Colonel  W.  W.  Woodd  (a  Yankee). 

man) 

Frank  Vincent.  Edward  Langton. 

Aminadab  Sleek.  Lambert  Streyke. 

Danvers.  .  Mailing. 

Lsdy  Cresmly.  Lsdy  Tompkins. 

Mrs.  C.  Torrens.  Mrs.  Forrester. 

Emms  Torrens.  Nellie  Forrester. 

Mrs.  Delmsine.  Mrs.  Blyth. 

Graham  (her  maid).  Goodall  (her  maid). 

•Basil  Giorgione  (Streyka's  nephew). 

Here  is  an  American  notice  of  it  taken  from  Puck  of  last  January: — 

14  *  The  Colonel,' "  at  Abbey's  Park  Theatre,  was  a  great  disappointment 
to  everybody.  Not  that  Mr.  Wallack  is  to  blame,  for  he  does  what  is  ex- 
pected of  him  ;  bat  the  play  is  nothing  more  than  an  unblushing  appro- 
priation of  another  man's  work.  The  French  original,  '  le  Mari  a  la  Cam- 
pague,'  is,  of  course,  at  everybody's  service,  but  the  author  of  *  The  Serious 
Family '  exhausted  its  possibilities  for  the  English -speaking  stage  in  the 
best  manner.  It  is,  then,  rather  cool,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  for  Mr.  F.  C. 
Burnand,  the  editor  of  our  venerable  and  funereal  contemporary,  Punch, 
to  call  *  The  Colonel '  hU  play,  when  he  has  simply  altered  the  dialogue, 
here  and  there,  of  another  play,  and  made  impossible  aesthetes  of  what,  in 
the  original,  were  possible  religious  enthusiasts.  Mr.  Burnand,  in  spite  of 
his  reputation,  by  this  work  can  certainly  lay  no  claim  to  be  considered 
either  a  wit  or  a  playwright,  and  his  ideas  of  dramatic  construction  are 
evidently  of  the  crudest  and  most  conventional  character.  '  Why,  certnly,' 
repeated  at  intervals,  is  not  sufficient  to  make  an  original  play,  although 
Mr.  Burnand  thinks  that  it  is.  The  scenery  was  good,  and  the  acting,  as  a 
whole  indifferent,  although  Miss  Rachel  Sanger  played  her  part  in  an  at* 
tractive  manner.  The  British  importations  who  took  the  other  characters 
did  not  impress  us  by  their  finish  or  excellence." 

But  how  plainly  do  these  American  writers  show  their  small 
knowledge  of  English  character  in  writing  thus. 

*  A  small  part  created  by  Mr.  Burnand.  The  other  characters  are  simply 
re-named,  the  amusing  Irish  Captain  of  the  original  being  transformed  into 
the  Yankee  Colonel. 


PUNCH'S  ATTACKS  ON  THE  itSTHETES.  93 

What  does  the  British  public  care  for  the  intrinsic  merit  of  a 
poem,  a  picture  or  a  play — if  Royalty  does  but  single  it  out  for  a 
passing  word  of  recognition,  its  name  is  made,  and  tho  poet,  artist, 
actress,  playwright,  cr  music-hall  singer,  at  once  becomes  famous. 
So  with  The  Colonel,  what  was  most  vaunted  in  its  enormous  and 
ubiquitous  advertisements  !  Its  originality — No !  Its  comicality — 
No  !  Its  truth  to  nature — No! — ^Ir.  Burnand  and  Mr.  Edgar  Bruce 
knew  which  was  their  trump  card,  and  they  played  it,  thus : — 

"THE    COLON  E  L." 

By  F.  C.  BURNAND. 

Mr.  Edoar  Bruce,  at  the  invitation  of  their  Royal  Highnesses  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  gave  a  Special  Representation  of  "  The 
Colonel,"  with  his  Company,  at  Abergeldie  Castle,  on  Tuesday, 
October  4th,   1881.      The  Performance  was   honoured   by  the  gracious 

presence  of 

HER   MAJESTY   THE   QUEEN, 

THFT*    KOTAL    HIOHXKVT*    THK 

Prince  ami  Prince**  of  Wale*,  Prince**  Loni*e,  Prince**  Beatrice,  Ar.,  A-c. 


Few  among  all  those  who  profess  to  know  everything  about 
Mandle  and  Postlcthwaite,  who  laughed  at  The  QJoneltmd  Patience, 
can  honestly  say  they  knew  anything  about  i-Estheticism  before  it 
was  made  the  target  of  our  sneering  satirists.  The  secret  of  the 
situation  and  the  reason  why  it  is  profitable,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
iEsthe'es  are  supposed  to  belong  to  the  "Upper  Crust"  One  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  lower  middle  classes  is  an  intense  desire  to 
know,  or  to  profess  to  know,  all  that  goes  on  in  aristocratic  circles. 
A  good  thing  it  is  for  our  national  reputation  that  our  English 
comic  writing  and  English  comic  draughtsmanship  have  a  history 
beyond  the  only  one  that  can  be  found  for  them  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  else  these  things  would  be  merely  comic 
by  means  of  their  audacious  pretences  upon  comicality.  As  it  is, 
even  this  sort  of  literary  and  artistic  ware  has  its  imitators.  The 
only  thing  which  reconciles  one  to  Punch  is,  that  one  can  generally 
understand  his  aims  if  one  cannot  always  respect  his  motives.  Very 


94 


THE 


€  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 


different  is  it  with  the  inferior  article.  Providence  alone  knows 
what  is  meant  by | either  type  or  wood  blocks  in  two  other  so-called 
comic  papers,  which  are  never  in  the  least  comic  unless  uninten- 
tionally, as  when  they  attempt  to  prophecy  before  they  know. 

One  of  these  professes  to  be  be  a  staunch  Tory  journal ;  the 
other  is  as  decidedly  Liberal  Yet  both  are  owned  by  one  and  the 
mine  firm,  and  what  is  still  more  curious  is,  that  at  times  these 
two  politically  antagonistic  organs  have  been  edited  by  one  and  the 
same  editor.  So  much  for  the  political  consistency  of  our  comic 
journals. 


MR.   egCflR   WIIiDE. 


■3T  is  seldom,  indeed,  that  so  very  young  a  man  as  Mr. 
Oscar  Wilde  comes  so  prominently  into  public  notice, 
and  it  would  be  neither  truthful  nor  complimentary 
to  ascribe  the  notoriety  he  has  obtained  entirely  to 
his  own  exertions.  Nothing  can  excuse  the  gross  per- 
sonal abuse  which  some  journals,  but  more  particularly 
Punchy  have  showered  on  him.  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde  is  a  gentleman 
by  birth,  education,  manners,  and  appearance;  it  would  be  difficult 
to  say  the  same  of  some  of  his  opponents,  and  though  every  attack 
upon  him  is,  in  reality,  an  advertisement  of  his  lectures  and  poems, 
that  is  not  the  motive  which  actuates,  nor  is  it  an  excuse  for,  the 
libels  and  gross  misrepresentations  printed  every  day  about  him. 
The  ridicule  that  has  been  lavished  on  his  actions  and  dress  is  as 
unreasonable,  as  the  excessive  adulation  which  his  poems  have 
earned  from  some  of  the  more  intense  -/Esthetes,  who  look  upon  him 
as  the  exponent  of  their  most  extreme  ideas. 

Mr.  Oscar  OTlahertie  Wills  Wilde  is  an  Irishman  by  birth. 
His  father,  the  late  Sir  William  R.  Wilde,  was  an  eminent 
surguon,  who  practised  for  many  years  in  Men-ion  Square,  Dublin. 
Sir  William  Wilde,  who  was  born  about  1815,  made  a  special 
study  of  ophthalmic  and  aural  diseases,  in  which  branches  of  his 
profession  he  was  recognised  as  a  high  authority,  and  was  appointed 
surgeon  oculist  to  the  Queen  in  1853. 

He  was  thrice  appointed  census  commissioner  for  Ireland,  and  for 
his  exertions  in  that  capacity  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
from  the  Lord-  Lieutenant  of  1  if  land,  in  1864. 


96  THE  ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IS   ENGLAND. 

He  was,  also,  distinguished  as  a  man  of  literary  tastes  and  great 
archaeological  learning;  besides  some  medical  works,  be  wrote 
"  The  Beauties  of  the  Boyne  ;*  a  lecture  entitled  "  Ireland,  Past  and 
Present ;)  the  Land  and  the  People,"  and  an  account  of  the  closing 
years  of  Jonathan  Swift,  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin ;  bot  his 
principal  work  was  "  A  Catalogue  of  the  Antiquities  in  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,"  a  scholarly  description  of  the  rare  and  curious 
exhibits  belonging  to  that  learned  society,  of  which  he  was  elected 
pronident. 

In  1851  Sir  William  (then  Mr.)  Wilde  married  Jane  Franccsca 
Klgee,  a  grand  daughter  of  Archdeacon  Klgee,  of  Wexford,  a  lady 
well  known  in  literary  circles  in  Dublin,  having  written  many 
poems  which  were  published  in  the  Nation  newspaper  at  the 
time  of  the  political  excitement  in  1848.  They  appeared  over 
the  tiom  tie  plume  "  Speranza,"  and  were,  of  course,  in  favour 
of  that  Irish  National  cause,  which  even  yet  claims  attention,  and 
must,  sooner  or  later,  receive  full  and  fair  consideration  (which  it 
never  yet  has  had)  from  British  statesmen,  or  end  in  a  civil  war, 
and  a  calamitous  result  for  either  England  or  Ireland. 

Lady  Wilde's  poems  were  afterwards  published  in  a  collected 
form,  entitled,  "Poems  by  Speranza,''  and  had  for  a  motto — 
"■Fidanza,  Speranza,  Costanza."  This  volume,  published  by 
Cameron  and  Ferguson,  of  Glasgow,  contained  a  portrait  of  Lady 
Wilde,  and  was  dedicated  to  Ireland.  In  it  are  numerous  short 
poems  on  the  state  of  that  country.  One  of  these  was  on  "  The 
Brothers,  Henry  and  John  Shears,  who  were  executed  in  1798," 
containing  the  verse  : — 

M  Yet  none  spring  forth  their  bonds  to  sever, 
Ah  !  me t)i inks,  liad  1  been  there, 
^    _"  I'd  have  dare* I  a  thousand  deaths  ere  ever 

The  sword  should  touch  their  hair  "* 

*  This  was  no  idle  boast ;  for  Lady  Wilde  gave  proof  of  her  highminded- 
ness  in  "  Forty-Eight,"  when,  standing  up  in  the  gallery  of  the  Court,  she 
proclaimed  herself,  before  the  judges  of  the  land,  the  author  of  an  article 
which  was  then  being  adduced  as  proof  of  the  guilt  of  the  editor  of  one  of 
the  National  papers. 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  97 

The  famine,  the  depopulation,  and  British  mis-government  are 
also  alluded  to,  with  a  poem  to  Daniel  O'Connell,  and  another  to 
William  Carleton,  the  author,  who  died  in  1869.  The  second  pait 
of  the  volume  is  made  up  principally  of  translations. 

In  1863  Lady  "Wilde  produced  a  translation  of  a  curious  and 
powerful  German  romance,  entitled  "The  First  Temptation,  or 
Eritis  Sicut  Deus."  This  is  one  of  the  finest  works  of  modern 
German  fiction,  and  possesses  great  metaphysical  power.  The  hero 
is  an  Hegelian  Philosopher,  whose  religion  is  the  cultus  of  Beauty, 
and  perhaps  the  English  publisher  may  have  feared  that  such  a 
theory  would  shock  the  faith  or  morals  of  his  readers,  but  in  any 
case  nearly  the  whole  edition  was  burnt,  accidentally  as  was  sup- 
posed, and  the  work  is  now  very  scarce  in  consequence.  She  has 
also  made  numerous  translations  from  the  works  of  Alexander 
Dumas,  Lamartine,  and  others,  besides  contributions  in  prose  and 
poetry  to  various  London  magazines. 

Lady  Wilde  has  for  some  time  past  resided  in  London,  with 
her  son,  AVilliam  Charles  Kingsbury  Wilde,  M.A.,  whose  magazine 
poems  have  also  attracted  some  attention. 

Oscar  Wilde  was  born  in  Dublin,  on  the  15th  October,  1856,  so 
that  he  is  now  about  twenty-six  years  of  age,  but  brief  as  has 
been  his  career,  it  has  been  full  of  promise  for  the  future.  The 
son  of  highly  intellectual  parents,  he  has  had  an  exceptional  educa- 
tion, has  travelled  much  in  wild  and  remote,  though  classic  lands, 
and  in  the  course  of  these  journeys  has  learnt  to  appreciate  the 
beauties  of  the  old  authors,  in  whoso  works  whilst  at  college  he 
attained  exceptional  proficiency.  But  his  naturally  enthusiastic 
temperament  teaches  him  to  hope  for  better  in  the  future  than  has 
been  achieved  in  the  past,  and  to  see  how  vast  will  be  the  influence 
of  Art  and  Literature  on  the  coming  democracy  of  Intellect,  when 
education  and  culture  shall  have  taught  men  to  pride  themselves 
on  what  they  have  done,  and  not  alone  on  the  deeds  of  th«»ir 
ancestors.  Having  spent  about  a  year  at  Potior*  Royal  School, 
Enniskillen  (the  Eton  of  Ireland),  and  before  going  to  Oxford,  Mr. 
O.  Wilde  studied  for  a  year  at  Trinity  College,  in  his  native  city, 

■ 


'♦>  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

where  he  obtained  a  classical  scholarship  at  the  unusually  early 
age  of  16,  and  in  the  following  year,  1874,  won  the  Berkeley  Gold 
Medal  for  Greek,  the  special  topic  selected  for  that  year  being  the 
Greek  Comic  Poets.  Thence  he  went  to  Magdalen  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  also  obtained  a  first  scholarship. 

During  a  vacation  ramble  in  1877  he  started  for  Greece,  visiting 
Ravenna  by  chance  on  the  way,  he  obtained  material  for  a  poem 
on  that  ancient  city,  and  singularly  enough  "  Ravenna  w  was  after- 
wards given  out  as  the  topic  for  the  Xewdigate  competition,  and 
on  the  26th  June,  1878,  the  Newdigate  prize  poem,  "  Ravenna," 
by  Oscar  Wilde,  of  Magdalen,  was  recited  in  the  theatre,  Oxford. 

"  O  lone  Ravenna !  many  a  tale  is  told 
Of  thy  great  glories  in  the  days  of  old  : 
Two  thousand  years  have  passed  since  thou  did  at  see 
Ca-sar  ride  forth  to  royal  victory. 
Mighty  thy  name  when  Rome's  lean  eagles  flew 
From  Britain's  isles  to  far  Euphrates  blue ; 
And  of  the  peoples  thou  wast  noble  queen, 
Till  in  thy  streets  the  Goth  and  Hun  were  seen. 
Discrowned  by  man,  deserted  by  the  sea, 
Thou  steepest,  rocked  in  lonely  misery ! 
No  longer  now  upon  the  swelling  tide, 
Pine-forest  like,  thy  myriad  gaileya  ride  ! 
For  where  the  brass-peaked  ships  were  wont  to  float, 
The  weary  shepherd  pipes  his  mournful  note  ; 
And  the  white  sheep  are  free  to  come  and  go 
Where  Adria's  purple  waters  used  to  flow. 

O  fair  !  O  sad  !  O  Queen  uncomforted ! 

In  ruined  loveliness  thou  liest  dead, 

Alone  of  all  thy  sisters  ;  for  at  last 

Italia's  royal  warrior  hath  passed 

Rome's  lordliest  entrance,  and  hath  worn  his  crown 

In  the  high  temples  of  the  Eternal  Town  ! 

The  Palatine  hath  welcomed  back  her  king, 

And  with  his  name  the  seven  mountains  ring  ! 

And  Naples  hath  outlived  her  dream  of  pain, 
And  mocks  her  tyrant  !     Venice  lives  again, 
New  risen  from  the  waters  !  and  the  cry 


MR.   OSCAR  WTLDF-  99 

Of  Light  and  Troth,  of  Love  and  Liberty, 
Is  heard  in  lordly  Genoa,  and  where 
The  marble  spires  of  Milan  wound  the  air, 
Rings  from  the  Alps  to  the  Sicilian  shore, 
And  Dante's  dream  is  now  a  dream  no  more. 

But  thou,  Ravenna,  better  loved  than  all, 
Thy  ruined  palaces  are  but  a  pall 
That  hides  thy  fallen  greatness  !  and  thy  name 
Bums  like  a  grey  and  flickering  candle  flame, 
Beneath  the  noonday  splendour  of  the  sun 
Of  New  Italia!" 

This  poem  has  since  been  published  by  T.  Shrimp  ton  and  Son, 
Oxford,  with  a  dedication — 

u  To  my  Friend, 
George  Fleming, 
Author  of  ■  The  Nile  Novel/  and  ■  Mirage/  " 

Whilst  at  Oxford,  Mr.  Wilde  attended  Mr.  Raskin's  lectures  on 
Florentine  Art,  and  even  followed  that  eccentric  (master's  teaching 
and  example  by  working  at  road-making,  so  that  the  body  might 
be  strengthened  as  well  as  the  mind.  But,  unfortunately,  Mr. 
Ruskin  left  for  Venice  at  the  end  of  Mr.  Wilde's  first  term,  not, 
however,  before  he  had  inoculated  a  number  of  the  young  col- 
legians with  artistic  tastes.  Mr.  Wilde  occupied  some  fine  old 
wainscoted  rooms  over  the  river  in  that  college  \rhich  is  thought 
by  many  to  be  the  most  beautiful  in  Oxford.  These  rooms  ho  had 
decorated  with  painted  ceilings  and  handsome  dados,  and  thoy 
were  filled  with  treasures  of  art,  picked  up  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  here  he  held  social  meetings,  which  were  attended  by  numl>ers 
of  the  men  who  were  interested  in  art,  or  music,  or  poetry,  and 
who  for  the  most  part  practised  some  one  of  these  in  addition  to 
the  ordinary  collegiate  studies. 

One  who  was  then  acquainted  with  Mr.  O.  Wilde  has  thus  de- 
scribed his  life  at  Oxford  : — 

"  He  soon  began  to  show  his  taate  for  art  and  china,  and  before  he  had 
been  at  Oxford  very  long,  his  rooms  were  quite  the  shorn*  ones  of  the  college, 
and  of  the  university  too.     He  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  brut 

ii   2 


100  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IX   ENGLAND. 

situated  rooms  in  the  college,  on  what  is  called  the  kitchen  staircase, 
having  a  lovely  view  over  the  River  Cherwell  and  the  beautiful  Magdalen 
walks  and  Magdalen  bridge.  Ilia  rooms  were  three  in  number,  and  the 
walls  were  entirely  panelled.  The  two  sitting  rooms  were  connected  by 
an  arch,  where  folding  doors  had  at  one  time  stood.  His  blue  china  was 
supposed  by  connoisseurs  to  be  very  valuable  and  fine,  and  there  was  plenty 
of  it.  The  panelled  walls  were  thickly  hung  with  old  engravings— chiefly 
engravings  of  the  fair  sex  artistically  clad  as  nature  clad  them.  He  was 
hospitable,  and  on  Sunday  nights  after  *  Common  Room,'  his  rooms  were 
generally  the  scene  of  conviviality,  where  undergraduates  of  all  descriptions 
and  tastes  were  to  be  met,  drinking  punch,  or  a  B.  and  S.  with  their  cigars. 
It  was  at  one  of  these  entertainments  that  he  made  his  well-known  remark, 
*  Oh,  would  that  I  could  live  up  to  my  blue  china  !'  His  chief  amusement 
was  riding,  though  he  never  used  to  hunt.  He  was  generally  to  be  met  on 
the  cricket  field,  but  never  played  himself,  and  he  was  a  regular  attendant 
at  his  college  barge  to  see  the  May  eight-oar  races,  but  he  never  used  to 
trust  his  massive  form  to  a  boat  himself." 

With  all  this,  he  managed  to  take  a  first  in  classical  moderations 
in  Trinity  term,  1 876,  though  he  was  seldom  seen  leading.  After 
this  he  spent  some  months  travelling  in  Greece  and  Palestine. 
Besides  minor  scholarships,  he  took  the  Xewdigate,  a  prize  for 
English  verse,  in  1878,  and  in  June  of  the  same  year,  he  took  a 
first  in  Literis  Humanioritmn,  after  which  he  took  his  degree. 

During  this  period  he  produced  a  number  of  poems,  some  of  them 
the  outcome  of  his  visits  to  Italy,  and  full  of  the  fervour  of  Roman 
Catholicism,  which  the  glories  of  art  as  shown  in  the  gorgeous 
temples  of  that  religion  are  sure  to  create  in  the  breasts  of  its 
votaries  when  first  they  visit  Florence,  Rome,  or  Milan. 

These  were  published,  some  in  The  Month,  others  in  the  Catholic 
Monitor,  and  the  Irish  Monthly.  A  number  of  short  poems  also 
appeared  in  Kottabos,  a  small  magazine  written  by  members  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Most  of  these  have  since  been  republished 
in  his  volume  of  poems,  thus  the  Ballade  de  Marguerite  originally 
appeared  in  Kottal>o*,  for  1879,  as 

"  LA  RELLE  MARGUERITE" 
Ballade  dc  Moves  Ace. 
44  I  am  weary  of  lying  within  the  chase, 

While  the  knyghtcs  are  meeting  in  marketplace. 


MR.  OSCAR  WILDE.  101 

Nay,  go  not  thou  to  the  red-roof'd  town. 

Lcat  the  hooves  of  the  war-horse  tread  thee  down. 

But  I  would  not  go  where  the  squires  ride  ; 
I  would  only  sit  by  my  lady's  side. 

Alack !  and  alack  !  thou  art  over  bold. 
A  forester's  son  may  not  eat  otF  of  gold. 

Will  she  love  me  less,  that  my  father  is  seen 
Each  Martinmas  Day  in  a  doublet  green  ? 

But  your  cloak  of  sheepskin  is  rough  to  see, 
When  your  lady  is  clad  in  cramoisic. 

Alack !  and  alack !  then,  if  true  love  dies, 
When  one  is  in  silk,  and  the  other  in  frieze  ! 

Mayhap  she  is  working  the  Uj^stric  ; 
Spindle  and  loom  arc  not  meet  for  thee. 

If  it  be  that  she  seweth  the  arras  bright, 
I  might  ravel  the  threads  by  the  fire  light. 

Mayhap  she  is  chasing  of  the  deer ; 
How  could  you  follow  o'er  hill  and  meer? 

If  it  be  that  she  hunteth  with  the  Court, 
I  might  run  behind  her,  and  wind  the  mort 

Mayhap  she  is  praying  in  chapelirie 

(To  her  soul  may  our  Lady  show  gramcrcic !) 

Ah !  if  she  is  kneeling  in  lone  chapelle, 
I  might  swing  the  censer,  or  ring  the  bell. 

Come  in,  my  son,  for  thou  look'st  sae  pale 
Thy  father  will  fill  thee  a  stoup  of  ale. 

Oh  !  who  are  these  knyghtes  in  bright  array  ? 
Is  it  a  pageant  the  rich  folk  play  ? 

I  fa  the  King  of  France  from  over  the  sea, 
That  has  come  to  visit  our  fair  oountrie. 


102  tue  juaauetui  movement  in  England. 

But  why  docs  the  curfew  toll  sae  low  ! 
Ami  why  do  the  mourners  walk  a- row  ? 

Oh,  it's  Hugh  of  Durham,  my  sister's  son, 
That  is  lying  stark,  for  his  day  is  done. 

Ah,  no,  for  I  see  white  lilies  clear ; 

It  is  no  strong  man  that  lies  on  the  bier. 

Oh  !  its  good  Dame  Alice  that  kept  the  Hall : 
I  knew  she  would  die  at  the  autumn  falL 

Dame  Alice  wad  not  a  maiden  fair, 
Dame  Alice  had  not  that  yellow  hair. 

Oh,  it's  none  of  our  kith  and  none  of  our  kin  ; 
( tier  soul  may  Our  Lady  assoil  from  sin). 

But  I  hear  the  boy's  voice  chanting  sweet, 
*  Elle  est  morte,  la  Marguerite  !' 

Come  iu,  my  son,  ami  lie  on  the  bed, 
And  let  the  dead  folk  bury  their  dead. 

Oh  !  mother,  you  know  I  loved  her  true  : 
Oh,  mother,  one  grave  will  do  for  two." 


The  first  number  of  Edmund  Yates*  Magazine,  Tint*,  appeared  in 
April,  1879  ;  this  contained  a  short  poem  by  Oscar  Wilde,  appro- 
priately entitled,  "  The  Conqueror  of  Time,"  and  in  the  July  part 
of  the  same  year  there  was  another,  and  most  exquisite  melody, 
"The  New  Helen."  Some  of  the  foregoing,  with  others  net 
previously  published,  appeared  in  an  elegant  volume  issued  by 
David  Bogue,  in  1881,  entitled,  "  Poems  "  by  Oscar  Wilde.  Now. 
at  the  time  these  poems  were  published,  Mr.  Burnand's  play,  TJte 
Colonel,  had  recently  been  brought  out,  and  he  was  able  at  once  to 
puff  his  own  production  and  to  ridicule  that  of  Mr.  Wilde  in  his 
journal.  The  review  of  the  Poems  contained  in  Punch  commenced 
thus : — 

"  Mr.  Lambert  Stkkykl,  in  The  Colonel,  published  a  book  of  poems  for 
the  benefit  of  his  followers  and  his  own  ;  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde  has  followed  his 
example." 


MR.   UJ>CAK  WILDE.  103 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  exquisite  taste  ami  delicate  satire  of 
this  sentence,  we  have  only  to  bear  in  mind  that  ihe  diameter  of 
Lambert  Streyke  in  the  play  is  that  of  a  paltry  swindler,  who, 
shamming  ^Esthetic  tastes,  imposes  upon  a  number  of  rather  silly 
ladies  and  is  linally  exposed  by  the  Colonel.  The  part,  in  fact,  is 
that  of  a  mere  pitiful  humbug,  whose  art  is  a  sham,  and  his  con- 
versation and  manners  ridiculous  and  outrageous  exaggerations  of 
those  of  even  the  most  extreme  ^Esthete. 

Following  up  this  comparison  of  Mr.  Oscar  "Wilde  to  a  shallow 
swindler,  Punch* s  amiable  critic  goes  on  to  observe :  — 

"  The  cover  is  consummate,  the  paper  is  distinctly  precious,  the  binding 
is  beautiful,  and  the  type  is  utterly  too. 

*'  Poem*,  by  Oscar  Wilde,  that  is  the  title  of  the  book  of  the  .Esthetic 
singer,  which  comes  to  us  arrayed  in  white  vellum  and  gold.  There  is  a 
certain  amount  of  originality  about  the  binding,  but  that  is  more  than  can 
be  said  for  the  inside  of  the  volume.  Mr.  Wilde  may  be  .Esthetic,  but  he 
is  not  original.  This  is  a  volume  of  echoes,  it  is  Swinburne  and  water 
while  here  and  there  we  note  that  the  author  has  been  reminiscent  of  Mr. 
Rossetti  and  Mrs.  Browning. 

"  To  sum  up,  these  outpourings  of  our  .Esthetic  baixl  must  be  pionounced 
poor  and  pre  ten  tic  ua  stuff." 

Xow  I  have  no  intention  of  comparing  Mr.  Wilde  with  any  of 
our  greater  poets,  but  I  do  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  ho 
is  still  a  very  young  man  ;  the  early  works  of  Shelley,  Keats,  Byron 
and  Tennyson,  were  pronounced  by  the  critics,  also,  to  be  "poor  and 
pretentious  staff,"  so  Mr.  Wilde  need  not  he  greatly  disturbed  by 
these  spiteful  criticisms,  esjiecially  as  his  poems  have  already  run 
through  four  editions. 

When  Christopher  North  slashed  into  Tennyson's  first  volume, 
the  future  poet-laureate  scribbled  a  few  contemptuous  verses  in 
reply ;  the  lines  might,  with  a  very  slight  alteration,  be  used  by 
Oscar  Wilde. 

"  You  did  late  review  my  lays. 
Crusty  Charivari  ; 
You  did  mingle  blame  and  praise, 

Rosty  Charivari. 
When  I  learnt  from  whom  it  came 


1<M  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

I  forgave  you  all  the  blame, 

Musty  Charivari ; 
I  could  not  forgive  the  praise, 

Fusty  Charivari." 

As,  however,  I  have  his  volume  before  me,  I  will  select  a  few 
extracts  from  it,  which  will  enable  a  reader  to  form  his  own 
judgment,  unbiassed  by  Punch's  spiteful  comments  : — 

"  REQCIESCAT. 

Tread  lightly,  she  ia  near, 

Uuder  the  snow, 
Speak  gently,  she  can  hear 

The  daisies  grow. 

All  her  bright  golden  hair 

Tarnished  with  rust, 
She  that  was  young  and  fair, 

Fallen  to  dust. 

I     Lily-like,  white  as  snow, 
1         She  hardly  knew 
|    She  was  a  woman,  so 
Sweetly  she  grew. 

Coffin  board,  heavy  stone, 

Lie  on  her  breast, 
I  vex  my  heart  alone, 

Sub  is  at  rest. 

Peace,  peace,  she  cannot  hear 

Lyre  or  sonnet, 
All  my  life's  buried  here, 

Heap  earth  upon  it." 

Is  there  anything  sweeter  or  more  pathetic  in  Tom   Hood  than 
these  few  lines?     I  think  not 

Here  is  another  in  a  similar  veiu  of  pathos : — 
"impression  du  matin. 

The  Thames  nocturne  in  blue  and  gold 

Changed  to  a  harmony  in  gray  : 

A  barge  with  ochre-coloured  hay 
Dropt  from  the  wharf ;  and  chill  and  cold 


MR.  OSCAR  WILDE.  105 

The  yellow  fog  came  creeping  down 

The  bridges,  till  the  houses'  walls 

Seemed  changed  to  shadows,  and  St.  Paula 
Loomed  like  a  bubble  o'er  the  town. 

Then  suddenly  arose  the  clang 

Of  waking  life  ;  the  streets  were  stirred 

With  country  waggons  :  and  a  bird 
Flew  to  the  glistening  roofs  and  sang. 

But  one  pale  woman  all  alone. 

The  daylight  kissing  her  wan  hair, 

Loitered  beneath  the  gas-lamp's  flare. 
With  lips  of  flame  and  heart  of  stone." 


The  longest  poem  in  the  volume  tells  bow  Charmbles  obtained 
access  into  the  sacred  secret  temple  of  Minerva,  and  the  terrible 
vengeance  the  haughty  virgin  goddess  took  upon  him,  and  the  maid 
who  loved  him.  This  poem  abounds  with  both  the  merits  and  the 
faults  of  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde's  style — it  is  classical,  sad,  voluptuous, 
and  full  of  passages  of  the  most  exquisitely  musical  word  painting ; 
but  it  is  cloying  from  its  very  sweetness — the  elaboration  of  its 
details  makes  it  over  luscious.  It  is  no  mere  trick  to  be  able  to 
write  thus  ;  it  betrays  a  luxuriant  fancy  and  a  great  command  of 
language  ;  youth  is  apt  to  be  exuberant,  ago  will  mellow  down  his 
muse,  and  then  Mr.  Wilde's  undoubted  genius  will  produce  some- 
thing finer  even  than  Charm  ides. 

Poets  do  not  at  all  times  express  their  own  individual  opinions 
i  1  their  works,  nor  is  it  advisable  they  should ;  theirs  it  is  to  portray 
many  minds,  and  many  moods  of  many  men  ;  yet,  without  doubt, 
the  ideas  expressed  in  "  Ave  Imperatrix  "  are  those  of  Mr.  Wilde, 
and  they  show  him  to  be  a  Republican,  not  of  the  noisy  and  blatant, 
but  of  the  quiet  and  patient  kind,  content  to  wait  till  the  general 
spread  of  democracy,  and  the  absorption  of  governing  power  by 
the  people,  shall  peacefully  bring  about  the  changes  they  desire, 
and  icmove  the  abuses  of  our  present  regime. 


100  THE  J&STHET1C  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

"AVE  IMPERATRIX. 

44  Set  in  this  stormy  Northern  sea, 

Queen  of  these  restless  fields  of  tide, 
England  !  what  shall  men  say  of  thee, 
Before  whose  feet  the  worlds  divide  ? 


For  southern  wind  and  east  wind  meet 
Where,  girt  and  crowned  by  sword  and  fire, 

England  with  bare  and  bloody  feet 
Climbs  the  steep  road  of  wide  empire. 

»  •  •  •  • 

Here  have  our  wild  war  eagles  down, 

And  flapped  wide  wings  in  fiery  fight ; 
But  the  sad  dove,  that  sits  alone 

In  England— she  hath  no  delight . 

In  vain  the  laughing  girl  will  lean 
To  greet  her  love  with  love-tit  eyes  : 

Down  in  some  treacherous  black  ravine, 
Clutching  his  flag,  the  dead  boy  lies. 

And  many  a  moon  and  sun  will  see 
The  lingering  wistful  children  wait 

To  climb  upon  their  father's  knee  ; 
And  in  each  house  made  desolate 

Pale  women  who  have  lost  their  lord 
Will  kiss  the  relics  of  the  slain — 

Some  tarnished  epaulette— some  sword  - 
Poor  toys  to  soothe  such  anguished 


For  not  in  quiet  English  fields 
Are  these,  our  brothers,  lain  to  rest 

Where  we  might  deck  their  broken  shields 
With  all  the  flowers  the  dead  love  best. 

For  some  are  by  the  Delhi  walls, 
And  many  in  the  Afghan  land, 

And  many  where  the  Gauges  falls 

Through  seven  mouth*  of  shifting  sand. 


JUL  USCAK  WILDE.  107 

And  some  in  Russian  waters  lie, 

And  others  in  the  seas  which  arc 
The  portals  to  the  East,  or  by 

The  wind-swept  heights  of  Trafalgar. 

O  wandering  graves,!  U  restless  sleep  !  7"  - — " 

O  silence  of  the  sunless  day  ! 
O  still  ravine  !  O  stormy  deep  ! 

Give  np  your  prey  !  give  up  your  prey 

And  thou  whose  wounds  arc  never  healed 

Whose  weary  race  is  never  won, 
O  Cromwell  8  England  !  must  thou  yield 

For  every  inch  of  ground  a  sou  ? 

Go  !  crown  with  thorns  thy  gold-crowned  head, 

Change  thy  glad  song  to  soug  of  pain  ; 
Wind  and  wild  wave  have  got  thy  dead, 

And  will  not  yield  them  back  again. 

Where  are  the  brave,  the  strong,  the  fleet? 

Where  is  our  English  chivalry  ? 
Wild  grasses  are  their  burial  sheet, 

And  sobbing  waves  their  threnody. 

O  loved  ones  lying  far  away, 

What  word  of  love  can  dead  lips  send ! 
O  wasted  dust !  O  senseless  clay  ! 

Is  this  the  end  ?  is  this  the  end  ? 

Peace,  peace  !  we  wrong  the  noble  dead 

To  vex  their  solemn  slumber  so ; 
Though  childless,  and  with  thorn-crowned  head. 

Up  the  steep  road  must  England  go. 

Yet  when  this  fiery  web  is  spun, 

Her  watchman  shall  descry  from  far, 
The  young  Republic,  like  a  sun, 

Rise  from  these  crimson  seas  of  war." 

But  those  who  would  find  the  true  ring  of  Aesthetic  poetry,  must 
indeed  go  to  the  book  itself ;  even  a  Philistine  may  find  delight  in 
its  perusal,  if  he  will ;  or  if  he  prefer  to  scoff  and  jibe  so  let  it  be. 
For  such  a  one  nothing  but  pity  should  be  felt— for  truly  the  gift 


108  THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

of  appreciating  the  beautiful  in  nature,  or  in  art,  is  not  given  to 
every  man,  and  he  who  has  it  not  is  as  one  who  is  colour-blind ;  he 
is  sense-blind,  or  sound-blind,  and  deserves  commiseration. 

In  addition  to  poetry,  Mr.  Wilde  has  written  various  prose 
articles,  amongst  them  one  on  Keats,  and  a  critique  on  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery  of  1877,  an  introduction  to  the  poems  of  Kennell  Rodd,* 
also  a  drama,  entitled  "  Nora,  or  the  Nihilist."  This  play  has 
not  yet  been  produced,  probably  because  of  the  powerful  situations 
it  contains  founded  on  democratic  ideas.  Such  a  play  would  be 
more  likely  to  find  acceptance  in  the  States,  where  the  censorship 
of  the  drama  is  not  con  tided  to  an  amiable  old  gentleman  attached 
to  the  household  of  a  Royal  family,  connected  by  marriage  with 
all  the  despots  in  Europe — of  whom  one  or  two  might  possibly 
tike  offence  at  Mr.  Wilde's  outspoken  denunciations  of  their 
tyranny  and  oppression. 

One  of  the  first  principles  of  ^Estheticism  is  that  all  the  line  arts 
are  intimately  related  to  one  another ;  hence  we  see  that  their  poets 
have  been  painters,  whilst  their  artists  have  largely  availed  them- 
selves of  the  creations  of  the  poets  as  topics  for  their  principal 
pictures  and  statues. 

Having  dealt  with  the  poems  of  Mr.  Wilde,  it  is  now  necessary 
to  refer  to  his  career  in  the  two  other  capacities  he  has  assumed  of 
Art  Lecturer  and  Dress  Reformer,  in  both  of  which  characters  he 
has  perhaps  earned  wider  and  more  general  celebrity  than  in  that 
of  poet. 

As  the  original  of  Archibald  Grosvenor  in  Patience,  he  could  well 

*  Hose  Leaf  toul  Apple  Leaf,  by  Kennell  Rodd,  with  an  introduction  by 
Oscar  Wilde.  (Philadelphia  :  J.  M.  Stoddart  k  Co.  1882).  A  dainty  little 
volume  of  poems  clothed  in  most  exquisite  attire.  The  printed  matter 
occupies  one  side  only  of  a  thin  transparent  sheet  of  hand-made  parchment 
paper,  interleaved  with  pale  apple  green,  the  delicate  tint  of  which  shows 
through  the  printed  page  in  a  manner  most  grateful  to  the  readers'  eyes.  The 
illustrations  are  of  a  decidedly  Japanese  type,  and  the  outer  case  is  of  white 
vellum.  Oscar  Wilde's  introduction  (though  written  in  prose)  reads  like  a 
poem  in  praise  of  a  poem,  for  his  language  is  rich  and  musical,  though  perhaps 
his  style  may  be  thought  a  trifle  involved. 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  109 

afford  to  smile  at  the  good-humoured  satire  of  Mr.  Gilbert's  sketch, 
which  assuredly  has  no  malice  in  it  But  the  ill-natured  and 
grossly-personal  attacks  of  Punch,  in  which  he  figured  so  long  as 
Jellaby  Postlethwaite,  are  far  less  laughable,  whilst  the  spite  they 
embodied  was  carefully  reproduced  in  The  Colonel,  where  the 
character  of  Lambert  Streyke  is  shown  as  the  epitome  of  humbug, 
vulgarity,  and  hypocrisy ;  the  chief  difference  being  that  whereas 
it  was  generally  understood  that  the  skits  on  J.  P.  in  Punch  were 
levelled  at  Oscar  "Wilde,  the  character  of  Lambert  Streyke  in  TJtn 
Colonel  was  made  so  base  and  revolting  that  although  some  of 
Du  Maurier's  stale  old  jokes  about  Postlethwaite  were  reproduced, 
no  one  would  venture  to  connect  Streyke  with  Oscar  Wilde.  Yet 
one  cannot  forget  that  the  author,  or  rather  the  adapter,  of  The 
Colonel  was  also  the  Editor  of  Punch,  and  that  Du  Maurier  satirized 
the  new  School  of  ^Esthetes  before  Burnand  compiled  Tfie 
Colonel,  from  various  sources  with  which  reading  people  have  long 
been  only  too  familiar. 

No  doubt  some  of  the  popular  ridicule  of  the  /Esthetic  School 
has  been  brought  about  by  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde,  whose  peculiarities 
of  garb  have  been  seized  upon  by  sapient  critics,  who  find  it  easier 
to  laugh  at  his  knee  breeches  than  his  poetry,  which  for  the  greater 
part  they  appear  not  to  have  read. 

A  very  general  opinion  about  the  school  appears  to  be  that  it  is 
"  a  mutual  admiration  society,  artificially  heated  by  the  steam  of 
reciprocal  incense  for  the  incubation  of  coterie  glory";  to  somewhat 
dispel  that  illusion  I  have  already  enumerated  some  of  the  principal 
men  connected  with  it,  and  finding  such  names  as  Buskin,  Swin- 
burne, the  Kossettis,  Morris,  and  E.  Burne-Jones,  besides  numerous 
artists  who  are  enthusiastic  in  the  support  of  the  ethics  of  the 
school,  it  is  surely  time  the  public  should  form  an  opinion  of  their 
own,  and  no  longer  take  their  ideas  at  second-hand  from  a  played- 
out  would-be  comic  journal.  I 

They  should  at  least  bear  in  mind  the  good, that  has  been  effected 
by  the  movement,  whose  effects  they  see  around  tliem  in  the  vast 
improvements  recently  made  in  furniture,  and  house  decoiation, 
and  other  branches  of  art. 


110  THE  iESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  interest  in  the  ^Esthetic  School  had  sometime  since  spread 
to  the  United  States,  where  the  cheap  reprints  of  the  works  of  our 
most  famous  authors  quickly  procure  as  wide  a  circle  of  readers 
as  they  can  obtain  in  this  country.  Hence,  when  the  opera  of 
Patience  was  produced,  its  points  were  fully  appreciated  by  reading 
people ;  and  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Wilde  that  a  visit  to  the  States  to 
give  some  lectures,  explanatory  of  real  JEdheticitm  as  it  exists 
amongst  us,  might  interest  and  possibly  instruct  and  elevate  our 
rich  and  clever,  if  not  particularly  cultured  transatlantic  cousins. 

In  some  of  his  early  utterances  he  was  unguarded  ;  he  admitted, 
for  instance,  that  he  was  not  greatly  impressed  with  the  mighty 
ocean.  Here  was  a  splendid  opportunity  for  the  comic  journals, 
great  was  the  flow  of  wit  from  this  small  cause : — 

"  There's  (hear  Wilde,  that  gifted  chylde, 

Fair  Poesie's  anointed, 
Has,  like  a  brick,  the  Atlantic 

Crossed,  to  be  disappointed. 
Poor  Oscar  Wilde,  .esthetic  chylde  ; 

The  Atlantic  ought  to  know  it  ' 
A  fault  so  grave  to  misbehave, 

And  disappoint  a  poet !  " 

Such  is  American  newspaper  enterprise,  that  before  Oscar  Wilde 
could  set  his  foot  on  shore  he  was  interviewed,  and  thoroughly 
cross-examined ;  I  may  as  well  quote  one  of  the  descriptions  :  it  will 
serve  as  a  sample  of  the  kind  of  writing  that  goes  down  in  the 
United  States  :— 

"'Men  may  come  and  men  may  go,'  says  the  scribe  of  the  Xew  York 
Herald,  'but  it  is  not  every  day  that  an  apostle  (thwaite)  of  .-estheticism 
comes  to  the  shores  of  America.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  the  Hc*aH 
reporter  met  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde  at  the  first  available  place— namely,  quaran- 
tine.' 

**  Mr.  Wilde  *  was  not  at  all  adverse  to  the  American  process  of  inter- 
viewing,* and  began  by  informing  the  reporter  that  he  had  come  to  the  United 
States  'to  lecture  on  the  Renaissance,"  which  he  defined  as  the  'revival  of 
the  intimate  study  of  the  correlation  of  all  arts.' 

'"  1  shall  lecture,'  said  Mr.  Wilde,  a  little  reservedly,  *  in  Chickeringj  Hall 
on  the  Renaissance.     My  future  movements  will  depend  entirely  upon  the 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  Ill 

results  of  my  lecture  in  a  business  sense.  I  have  come  here  with  the  inten- 
tion of  producing  upon  an  American  stage  a  play  which  I  hare  written,  and 
which  I  have  not,  for  reasons,  been  able  to  produce  in  London.  It  is 
exceedingly  desirable  that  it  should  be  produced  with  a  cast  of  actors  who 
■hall  be  thoroughly  able  to  represent  the  piece  with  all  the  force  of  its  original 
conception.' 

•*  *  But,*  said  the  reporter,  *  do  you  not  intend  to  produce  a  volume  of  poems 
while  you  are  in  America  ?  * 

'•'No,  I  shall  not,  certainly  for  some   time  to  come,  publish  another 
volume  ;  but  I  hardly  care  to  say  what  the  future  may  develop.' 
*•  *  You  will  certainly  lecture,  however  ? '  said  the  reporter. 
" '  1  certainly  shall,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  I  shall  lecture  in  other 
cities  besides  New  York.     It  will  depend  entirely  upon  what  encouragement 
I  find  in  the  acceptance  of  my  school  of  philosophy.' 

"'Do  you  then  call  ••  sestheticisni "  a  philosophy  ? '  asked  the  reporter. 
•' '  Most  certainly  it  is  a  philosophy.    It  is  the  study  of  what  may  be  found 
in  art.     It  is  the  pursuit  of  the  secret  of  life.     Whatever  there  is  in  all  art 
that  represents  the  eternal  truth,  is  an  expression  of  the  great  nnderlying 
truth.     So  far  ratheticism  may  be  held  to  be  the  study  of  truth  in  art.' 

41  *  jEstheticism,'  said  the  reporter,  '  has  been  understood  in  America  to  be 
•  blind  groping  after  something  which  is  entirely  intangible.     Can  you,  as 
he  exponent  of  jestheticism,  give  an  interpretation  which  shall  serve  to  give 
a  more  respectable  standing  to  the  word  ? ' 

••  *  I  do  not  know,'  said  Mr.  Wilde,  '  that  I  can  give  a  much  better  defini- 
'  ion  than  I  have  already  given.  But  whatever  there  has  been  in  poetry  since 
the  time  of  Keats,  whatever  there  has  been  in  art  that  has  served  to  devolve 
the  underlying  principles  of  truth  ;  whatever  there  has  been  in  science  that 
has  served  to  show  to  the  individual  the  meaning  of  truth  as  expressed  to 
humanity— that  has  been  an  exponent  of  tettheticism.' " 

The  most  amusing  of  all  the  paragraphs  that  have  appeared  in 
Punch  about  Oscar  Wilde,  was  the  burlesque  description  of 

"OSCAR  INTERVIEWED. 

"Mm  York,  Jan.,  1882. 

"  Determined  to  anticipate  the  rabble  of  penny-a-liners  ready  to  pounce 
upon  any  distinguished  foreigner  who  approaches  our  shores,  and  eager  to 
assist  a  sensitive  Poet  in  avoiding  the  impertinent  cariosity  and  ill-bred 
insolence  of  the  Professional  Reporter,  1  took  the  fastest  pilot-boat  on  the 
station,  and  boarded  the  splendid  Canard  steamer.  The  Bothnia,  in  the 
shacking  of  a  pea-nuL 


112  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

"  His  .Esthetic  Apfearan*  e. 

"He  stood,  with  his  large  hand  passed  through  his  loan  ***"■  again**  a 
high  chimney-piece— which  had  been  painted  pea-green,  with  panels  of  peacock- 
blue  pottery  let  in  at  uneven  intervals—  one  elbow  on  the  high  ledge,  the  other 
hand  on  his  hip.  He  wan  dressed  in  a  long,  snuff-coloured,  single-breasted 
coat,  which  reached  to  his  heels,  and  was  relieved  with  a  seal-skin  collar  and 
cuffs  rather  the  worse  for  wear.  Frayed  linen,  and  an  orange  silk  handker- 
chief gave  a  note  to  the  generally  artistic  colouring  of  the  ensemble,  while  one 
small  daisy  drooped  despondently  in  his  button-hole.  ....  We  may 
state,  that  the  chimney-piece,  as  well  as  the  sealskin  collar,  is  the  property  of 
Oscar,  and  will  appear  in  his  Lectures  '  on  the  Growth  of  Artistic  Taste  in 
England.'     But 

"He  Speaks  for  Himself. 

" '  Yes ;  1  should  have  been  astonished  had  I  not  been  interviewed !  Indeed 
I  have  not  been  well  on  board  this  Cunard  Argosy.  1  have  wrestled  with  the 
glaukous-haired  Poseidon  and  feared  his  ravishment.  Quite  :  I  have  been 
too  ill,  too  utterly  ill.  Exactly — seasick,  in  fact,  if  1  must  descend  to  so 
trivial  an  expression.  I  fear  the  clean  beauty  of  my  strong  limbs  is  somewhat 
waned.  I  am  scarcely  myself — my  nerves  are  thrilling  like  throbbing  violins, 
in  exquisite  pulsation. 

'•  You  are  right.  I  believe  I  was  the  first  to  devote  my  subtle  brain-chords 
to  the  worship  of  the  Sunflower,  and  the  apotheosis  of  the  delicate  Tea-pot.  J 
have  ever  been  jasmine-cradled  from  my  youth.  Eons  ago,  I  might  say  cen- 
turies, in  73,  when  a  student  at  Oxford,  i  had  trampled  the  vintage  of  my 
babyhood,  and  trod  the  thorn-spread  heights  of  Poesy.  1  had  stood  in  the 
Arena  and  torn  the  bays  from  the  expiring  athletes,  my  competitors." 

"His  Glorious  Past. 

"  Precisely  —  I  took  the  Newuigate.  Oh  !  no  doubt,  every  year  some  man 
gets  th«  Xewiligate  ;  but  not  every  year  does  Xewdigate  get  an  Oscar.  Since 
then— barely  three  years,  but  centuries  to  such  as  I  am  -I  have  stood  u|>on 
the  steps  of  London  Palaces — in  South  Kensington — and  preached  .Esthetic 
art.  I  have  taught  the  wan  beauty  to  wear  nameless  robes,  have  guided  her 
limp  limbs  into  sightless  knots  and  curving  festoons,  while  we  sang  of  the 
sweet  sad  sin  of  Swinburne,  or  the  lone  delight  of  soft  communion  with  Burne- 
Jones.  Swinburne  had  made  a  name,  and  Hume-Jones  had  copied  illumina- 
tions e'er  the  first  silky  down  had  fringed  my  upper  lip,  but  the  Trinity  of 
Inner  Brotherhood  was  not  complete  till  I  came  forward,  like  the  Asphodel 
from  the  wilds  of  Arcady,  to  join  in  sweet  antiphonal  counterchanges  with  the 
Elder  Seers.     We  are  a  Beautiful  Family— we  sre,  we  are,  we  are  !" 


MR.   OSCAR   WILPE.  1H 

"LlCTTRE   pROSl»ECT*. 

"Ym;  I  expect  my  Lecture  will  be  a  success.  So  does  Dollar  Carte— I 
mean  D'Oyly  Carte.  Too-Toothless  Senility  may  jeer,  and  poor  positire 
Propriety  may  shake  her  rnsty  curls ;  but  I  am  here,  in  my  creamy  lusti- 
hood,  to  pipe  of  Passion's  venturous  Poesy,  and  reap  the  scorching  harvest  of 
Self- Love !  I  am  not  quite  sure  what  I  mean.  The  true  Poet  never  is.  In 
fact,  true  Poetry  is  nothing  if  it  is  intelligible.  She  is  only  to  be  compared  to 
Salmans,  who  is  not  boy  or  girl,  but  yet  is  both." 

"His  Neophytes. 

"Who  are  my  neophytes  ?  Well,  I  fancy  the  Lonsdales  and  the  Langtrys 
would  have  never  been  known  if  I  hadn't  placed  them  on  a  pedestal  of  daffo- 
dils, and  taught  the  world  to  worship." 

"His  Kosmic  Soul. 

"Oh,  yes  !  I  speak  most  languages  ;  in  the  sweet  honey-tinted  brogue  my 
own  land  lends  me.  La  Mia  Donna  (ttUa  mia  Mente  exists,  but  she  is  not 
the  Jersey  Lily,  though  I  hare  grovelled  at  her  feet ;  she  is  not  the  .Tnno 
Countess,  though  I  have  twisted  my  limbs  all  over  her  sofas  ;  she  is  not  the 
Polish  Actress,  though  I  have  sighed  and  wept  over  all  the  boxes  of  the  Court 
Theatre  ;  she  is  not  the  diaphanous  Sarah,  though  I  have  crawled  after  her 
footsteps  through  the  heavy  fields  of  scentless  Asphodel ;  she  is  not  the  golden 
haired  Ellen,  more  fair  than  any  woman  Veronese  looked  upon,  thongh  I  have 
left  my  Tmprexxions  on  many  and  many  a  seat  in  the  Lyceum  Temple,  where 
she  is  High  Priestess ;  nor  is  she  one  of  the  little  Nameless  Naiads  I  have  met 
in  Lotus-haunts,  who,  with  longing  eyes,  watch  the  sweet  bubble  of  the 
frenzied  grape.  No,  Sir,  my  real  Love  is  my  own  Kosmic  Soul,  enthroned  in 
its  flawless  essence  ;  and  when  America  can  grasp  the  supreme  whole  I  sing  in 
too-too  utterance  for  vulgar  lips,  then  soul  and  body  will  blend  in  mystic 
symphonies ;  then,  crowned  with  bellamours  and  wanton  flower-de-luce,  I  shall 
be  hailed  Lord  of  a  new  Empery,  and  as  I  stain  my  lips  in  the  bleeding  wounds 
of  the  Pomegranate,  and  wreathe  my  o'ergrown  limbs  with  the  burnished  disk 
of  the  Sunflower,  Apollo  will  turn  pale  and  lashing  the  restive  horse*  of  the 
Sun,  the  tamer  chariot  of  a  forgotten  god  will  make  way  for  the  glorious  zenith 
of  the  one  Oscar  Wilde." 

The  next  report  I  shall  quote  gives  an  account  of  Mr.  Wttdt'l 
first  lecture  in  New  York,  in  which  he  went  very  fully  into  the  whole 
question  of  modern  art  The  AVw  York  World  gave  an  excellent 
pricis  of  his  utterances  on  that  occasion,  which  is  worthy  of  quotation, 


114  THE  ^ESTHETIC'  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

as  containing  one  of  the  best  of  expositions  of  the  aims  of  the 
jErtthetic  School : — 

"  It  is  seldom  that  Chickering  Hall  has  contain**!  so  fine  an  audience  ss 
that  which  gathered  there  last  evening  to  see  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde,  and  to  list  n 
to  his  exposition  of  those  peculiar  views  which  have  distinguished  him  from 
everyday  folk  in  England.  And  Mr.  Wilde  was  well  worth  seeing,  his  shore 
breeches  and  silk  stockings  showing  to  even  better  advantage  upon  the  stage 
than  in  the  gilded  drawing-rooms,  where  the  young  apostle  has  heretofore 
been  seen  in  New  York.  No  sunflower,  nor  yet  a  lily,  dangled  from  the 
button-hole  of  his  coat ;  indeed,  there  is  room  for  reasonable  doubt  as  to 
whether  his  coat  had  even  one  button-hole  to  be  put  to  such  artistic  use.  But 
judging  his  coat  by  the  laws  of  the  Philistines,  it  was  a  well-fitting  coat,  and 
looked  as  though  it  had  been  made  for  the  wearer  as  a  real  coat,  and  not  as  a 
mere  piece  of  decorative  drapery.  Promptly  at  8  o'clock  the  young  lecturer 
came  upon  the  stage,  and  with  the  briefest  possible  introduction  from  Colonel 
Morse,  Mr.  Wilde  began  his  lecture. 

"A  subject  as  evasive  as  beauty,  for  beauty  was  the  real  subject  of  the 
lecture,  is  difficult  to  grasp  with  logic.  Not  analysis,  not  descriptive  was  the 
method  of  treatment,  but  revelation.  *  Beauty  cannot  be  taught,  but  only 
revealed,'  is  the  apothegm  that  Mr.  Wilde  never  tires  of  repeating  ;  and  this, 
fitly  enough,  is  the  key  to  h's  style.  He  handled  no  prosaic  subject,  nor  was 
his  handling  prosaic.  Long  melodious  sentences,  seldom  involved,  always 
clear,  unfolded  his  meaning,  as  graceful  curves  reveal  a  beautiful  figure.  A 
vocabulary  as  wide  as  Swinburne's  snd  well-nigh  as  musical,  modelled  on  that 
rich  and  flowing  prose,  which  is  as  marvellous  as  Swinburne's  verse— how 
could  such  a  style  be  dull  ?  Yet  it  was  never  obscure.  Always  the  first  clear 
principle  of  chaste  English,  simplicity,  and  the  careful  attribute  of  clean 
thought,  exactness,  characterised  his  style.  Almost  gorgeous  at  times,  his 
language  never  quite  ran  away  with  him,  but  was  always  equal  to  the  clear 
expression  of  the  most  subtle  fancy.  The  best  parts  of  the  lecture  were  its 
clear  glimpses  of  a!  rare  appreciation  of  artistic  literary  work  from  Homer  to 
William  Morris.  It  is  not  every  day  that  one  can  sit  in  the  hearing  of  so 
keen  a  critic,  or  catch  such  glimpses  of  so  clear  a  revelation  of  art.  Perhaps 
the  young  poet  mai  yet  lack  strength,  but  he  certainly  does  not  lack  fluency, 
width,  and  felicity  of  style. 

"Among  the  many  debts,  said  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde,  which  we  owe  to  the 
supreme  esthetic  faculty  of  Goethe  is  that  he  was  the  first  to  teach  us  to 
define  beauty  in  terms  the  most  concrete  possible ;  to  realise  it,  I  mean, 
always  in  its  special  manifestations.  So,  in  the  lecture  which  I  have  the 
honour  to  deliver  before  you,  I  will  not  try  to  give  you  any  abstract  definition 
of  beauty,  any  such  universal  formula  for  it  as  was  sought  by  the  philosophy 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  115 

of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  still  less  to  communicate  to  you  that  which  in  its 
essence  is  incommunicable — the  virtue  by  which  a  particular  picture  or  poem 
a  fleets  us  with  a  unique  and  special  joy,  but  rather  to  point  out  to  you  the 
general  ideas  which  characterise  the  great  English  renaissance  of  art  in  this 
century.  This  renaissance  has  been  described  as  a  mere  revival  of  Greek 
modes  of  thought ;  and  again  as  a  mere  revival  of  mediaeval  feeling.  It  in 
really  from  the  union  of  Hellenism  in  its  breadth  ;  its  sanity  of  purpose  ;  its 
calm  possession  of  beauty,  with  the  intensified  individualism,  the  passionate 
colours  of  the  romantic  spirit  that  springs  the  art  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  England,  as  from  the  marriage  of  Faust  and  Helen  of  Troy  sprang  the 
beautiful  boy  Euphorion.  I  trace  the  first  tendencies  of  the  modern 
renaissance  to  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  desire  for  perfection  which  lay 
at  the  base  of  that  revolution  found  in  a  young  English  poet  its  most  complete 
and  flawless  realisation.  Phidias  and  the  achievement*  of  Greek  art  are  fore- 
shadowed in  Homer ;  Dante  prefigures  for  us  the  passion  and  colour  and 
intensity  of  Italian  painting ;  the  modern  love  of  landscape  dates  from 
Rousseau  ;  and  it  is  in  Keats  that  one  discerns  the  beginning  of  the  artistic 
renaissance  of  England.  Byron  was  a  rebel,  and  Shelley  a  dreamer ;  but  in 
the  calmness  and  clearness  of  his  vision,  his  self-control,  his  unerring  sense 
of  beauty,  and  his  recognition  of  a  separate  realm  for  the  imagination,  Keats 
was  the  pure  and  serene  artist,  the  forerunner  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  school, 
and  so  of  the  great  romantic  movement  of  which  I  am  to  speak. 

**  If  you  ask  nine-tenths  of  the  British  public  about  the  Pre-Raphaelites, 
you  will  hear  something  about  an  eccentric  lot  of  young  men  to  whom 
belong  a  sort  of  divine  crookedness  and  holy  awkwardness  in  drawing  all  the 
chiefs  objects  of  art  To  know  nothing  about  their  great  men  is  one  of 
the  necessary  elements  of  English  education.  Indeed,  the  average  Englishman 
will  tell  you  that  n?stheticism  is  the  French  for  affectation,  or  the  German  for 
dado.  The  Pre-Raphaelites  were  a  numbsr  of  young  poets  and  painters  who 
banded  together  in  London  about  thirty  years  since  to  revolutionize  English 
poetry  and  painting.  They  had  three  things  which  the  English  public  never 
forgive — youth,  power,  and  enthusiasm.  Satire  paid  them  the  homage  which 
mediocrity  pays  to  genius.  Theix  detractors  blinded  the  public,  but  simply 
confirmed  the  artists  in  their  convictions.  To  disagree  with  three-fourths  of 
all  England  on  all  points  is  one  of  the  first  elements  of  sanity. 

"  Pre-Raphaelism  was  above  all  things  a  return  to  nature— to  draw  and  paint 
nothing  but  what  was  seen.  With  the  joining  of  William  Monia  and 
Edward  Burne-Jones  to  the  original  board  came  changes.  The  latter  brought 
to  painting  a  more  exquisite  choice,  a  more  faultless  devotion  to  beauty,  a 
more  intense  seeking  after  perfection.  He  felt  that  the  close  itniUtion  of 
nature  was  a  disturbing  element  in  imaginative  art.  To  Morris  we  owe 
poetry  whose  perfect  precision  ami  clearness  of  won!  and  vision  have  not  l«een 


11G  THE  .KsTHKTK    MOVKMEKT  IK   KXisLAKD. 

excelled  in  the  literature  of  oar  country.  This  revolution  was  not  only  one 
of  ideas,  but  of  creations.  The  poetry  of  Morris,  Swinburne,  and  Rossetti 
shows  a  style  flawless  and  fearless,  a  sustaining  consciousness  of  the  musical 
value  of  each  word,  a  distinct  advance  in  technique,  which  is  the  characteristic 
of  all  great  eras. 

"While  then,  the  material  for  workmanship  is  being  elaborated,  what 
people  call  the  poet's  inspiration  has  not  escaped  the  controlling  influence  of 
the  artistic  spirit ;  not  that  the  imagination  has  lost  its  wings,  but  we  have 
accustomed  ourselves  to  count  their  innumerable  pulsations,  to  estimate  their 
limitless  strength,  to  govern  their  ungovernable  freedom. 

"  In  choosing  his  subject,  the  artist  is  the  spectator  of  all  time.  Past  and 
present  are  alike  real  to  him.  For  him  no  form  is  obsolete,  no  subject  out  of 
date.  But  all  things  are  not.  fit  subjects  for  poetry.  Into  the  sacred  house 
of  Beauty  the  true  artist  will  admit  nothing  which  is  harsh  or  disturbing, 
nothing  about  which  men  argue.  If  he  writes  on  these  subjects  he  does  so, 
as  Milton  expresses  it,  with  his  left  hand. 

"  Whatever  spiritual  message  an  artist  brings  to  his  age  is  matter  for  his  own 
soul.  It  is  for  us  to  do  naught  but  accept  his  teaching.  But  our  restless 
modern  intellectual  spirit  is  not  receptive  enough.  Only  a  few  have  learned 
the  secret  of  those  high  hours  when  thought  is  not  The  secret  of  the  in- 
fluence of  Japanese  art  here  in  the  West  is  that  it  has  kept  true  to  its  primary 
and  poetical  conditions,  and  has  not  had  laid  on  it  the  burden  of  its  own 
intellectual  doubts,  the  spiritual  tragedy  of  its  own  sorrows.  In  its  primary 
aspect  a  painting  has  no  more  spiritual  message  than  an  exquisite  fragment  of 
Venetian  glass.  It  is  a  certain  inventive  and  creative  handling  of  line  and 
colour  which  touches  .the  soul — something  entirely  independent  of  anything 
poetical  in  the  subject — something  satisfying  in  itself.  And  in  poetry  the 
pleasure  comes  from  what  Keats  calls  the  sensual  life  of  verse,  an  inventive 
handling  of  rhythmical  language. 

"  And  criticism — what  place  is  that  to  have  in  our  culture  ?  I  think  the 
first  duty  of  an  art -critic  is  to  hold  his  tongue  at  all  times  and  upon  all 
subjects,  said  Mr.  Wilde,  and  then  with  an  inconsistency  not  elsewhere 
noticed  in  the  lecture,  explained  that  it  is  the  critic's  place  to  teach  the 
public  to  find  in  the  calm  of  art  the  highest  expression  of  their  own  most 
stormy  passions.  *  I  have  no  reverence,'  said  Keats,  'for  the  public  or  any- 
thing in  existence  but  the  Eternal  Being,  the  memory  of  great  men  and  the 
Principle  of  Beauty.'  Such,  then,  is  the  spirit  which  I  believe  to  be  guiding 
and  underlying  our  English  renaissance.  But  it  is  incomplete.  There  can 
be  no  great  sculpture  without  a  beautiful  national  life,  and  no  drama  without 
a  noble  national  life.  The  commercial  spirit  of  England  has  killed  both  beauty 
and  nobility." 


MIL   OSCAR  WILDE.  117 

"The  drains  is  the  meeting-place  of  art  and  life ;  it  is  the  product  of  a 
iicriod  of  great  united  energy.  It  is  impossible  without  a  noble  public 
Shelley  felt  how  incompetent  the  movement  was  in  this  direction,  and  has 
shown  in  one  great  tragedy  by  what  terror  and  pity  he  would  have  purified 
our  age.  He  has  had  no  worthy  imitators.  You  have  listened  to  the 
charming  music  of  Mr.  Sullivan  and  the  clever  satire  of  Mr.  Gilbert  for  300 
nights,  and  I  am  sure,  having  given  pj  much  time  to  satire,  it  is  not  asking 
too  much  to  ask  you  to  listen  to  the  truth  for  one  evening.  There  is  no 
inordinate  fondness  for  vegetable  loves  among  us,  though  we  grant  the  clever- 
ness of  Mr.  Gilbert's  satire ;  but  such  satire  is  no  truer  representation  of  us 
than  the  dust  in  a  beam  of  light  is  a  representation  of  the  sun,  or  the  bubble 
that  bursts  upon  the  wave  is  a  representation  of  the  boundless  sea. 

'•  It  is  rather  to  you  that  we  turn  to  perfect  what  we  have  begun.  There 
is  something  Hellenic  in  your  air  and  world.  You  are  young  ;  *  no  hungry 
generations  tread  you  down,'  and  the  past  does  not  mock  you  with  the  ruins 
of  a  beauty,  the  secret  of  whose  creation  you  have  lost. 

"  Love  art  for  its  own  sake,  and  then  all  things  that  you  need  will  be  added 
to  you." 

In  February  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde  lectured  at  Boston,  to  an  immense 
audience.  It  was  announced  beforehand  that  sixty  Harvard 
students  would  attend,  dressed  in  imitation  of  Mr.  Wilde.  The 
audience  was  largely  attracted  by  this  announcement,  but  while 
respectable,  it  contained  no  prominent  persons.  The  students 
occupied  the  front  seats,  wearing  dress  coats,  knee-breeches,  flowing 
wigs,  and  green  scarves,  having  lilies  in  their  buttonholes  and  sun- 
flowers in  their  hands.  Mr.  Wilde  did  not  wear  knee-breeches. 
Whenever  he  paused  to  drink  water  the  audience  broke  into 
uproarious  applause  lasting  several  minutes.  This  occurred  so  often 
that  Mr.  Wilde  paused  and  glared  upon  the  audience  until  silence 
was  restored.  His  impressions  of  Boston  are  said  to  be  unpleasant, 
and  it  must  be  apparent  that  Bostonian  students  have  but  tho  most 
rudimentary  ideas  of    the  behaviour   befitting  gentlemen. 

The  Boston  Evening  Transcript,  of  February  2nd,   1882,  thus 

describes  the  scene : — 

*'  Boston  is  certainly  indebted  to  Oscar  Wilde  for  one  thing— the  thorough- 
going chastening  of  the  snperabounding  spirits  of  the  Harvard  freshman.  It 
will  be  some  time,  we  think,  before  a  Boston  assemblage  is  again  invaded  by 
a  body  of  college  youths,  massed  as  such,  to  take  possession  of  the  meeting. 


118  THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IN    EN  C  LAND. 

This  is  not  unimportant,  for  if  the  thing  should  grow  into  a  practice  and 
succeed,  everything  in  the  way  of  public  entertainments  here  must  finally  be 
done  with  the  leave  only  of  the  youngest  and  most  ill-bred  class  of  Harvard 
students.  Whether  in  his  first  off-hand  observations,  or  in  the  pointed  ran  arks 
scattered  through  his  address,  or  in  the  story  he  told  of  the  Oxford  boys  and 
Mr.  Ruskin,  nothing  could  have  been  more  gracious,  more  dignified,  more 
gentle  and  sweet,  and  yet  more  crushing,  than  the  lecturer's  whole  demeanour 
to  them,  and  its  iniluence  upon  the  great  audience  was  very  striking.  A  goodly 
number  of  the  latter,  it  seemed  to  us,  had  gone  there  to  see  the  fun,  in  ho|»e* 
of  a  jolly  row  ;  but  the  tide  of  feeling  was  so  completely  turned  by  Mr.  Wilde's 
courteous  and  kindly  dignity  that  even  this  portion  of  the  audience  took  sides 
with  bun,  and  hissed  down  every  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  rougher  element 
to  disconcert  or  interrupt  the  speaker  by  exaggerated  and  ill-timed  applause. 
Mr.  Wilde  achieved  a  real  triumph,  and  it  was  by  right  of  conquest,  by  force 
of  being  a  gentleman,  iu  th-  truest  sense  of  the  word.  His  nobility  not  only 
obliged  Aim — it  obliged  his  would-be  mockers— to  good  behaviour.  He 
crowned  his  triumph,  and  he  heaped  coals  of  fire  upon  those  curly  and  wiggy 
heads,  when  he,  with  simplicity  and  evident  sincerity,  made  them  an  offer  of 
a  statue  of  a  Greek  athelete  to  stand  in  their  gymnasium,  and  said  he  should 
esteem  it  an  honour  if  they  would  accept  it.  This  really  seemed  to  stun  the 
boys,  for  they  even  forgot  to  recognize  the  offer  with  applause.  It  **as  a  lovely, 
though  sad  sight,  to  see  those  dear  silly  youths  go  out  of  the  Music  Hall  In 
slow  procession,  hanging  their  heads  meekly,  and  trying  to  avoid  observation, 
followed  by  faint  expressions  of  favour  from  their  friends,  but  also  with  some 
hisses.  A  lady  near  us  said,  ■  How  mortified  1  should  be  if  a  son  of  mine 
were  among  them  !'  We  think  that  every  one  who  witnessed  the  scene  on 
Tuesday  evening  must  feel  about  it  very  much  as  we  do,  and  that  those  who 
came  to  scoff,  if  they  did  not  exactly  remain  to  pray,  at  least  left  the  Musi 
Hall  with  feelings  of  cordial  liking,  and  perhaps,  to  their  own  surprise,  of 
respect  for  Oscar  Wilde." 

Mr.  Wilde  appeals  to  have  borne  the  insults  of  these  shallow- 
pated  imbeciles  with  perfect  good  humour  and  gentlemanly  com- 
posure. That  the  fools  who  planned  such  disgraceful  proceedings 
were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  philosophy  they  went  out  to  ridicule, 
was  so  obvious  that  to  treat  them  with  silent  contempt  was  at  once 
the  Poet's  best  reply  and  most  severe  rebuke. 

He  went  to  Omaha,  where,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Social  Art 
Club,  he  delivered  a  lecture  on  "  Decorative  Art,"  in  the  course  of 
which  he  described  his  impressions  of  many  American  houses  as 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  119 

being  "  illy  designed,  decorated  shabbily  and  in  bad  taste,  and  filled 
with  furniture  that  was  not  honestly  made  and  was  out  of  character. n 
This  statement  gave  rise  to  the  following  verses  : — 

'*  What  a  shame  and  what  a  pity, 
In  the  streets  of  London  City 

Mr.  Wilde  is  seen  no  more. 
Far  froL   Piccadilly  banished, 
He  to  Omaha  has  vanished, 

Horrid  place,  which  smells  ignore. 

On  his  back  a  coat  he  beareth, 
Such  as  Sir  John  Bennett  weareth, 

Made  of  velvet — strange  array  ! 
Legs  Apollo  might  hav;  sighed  for, 
Or  great  Hercvls  had  died  for, 

His  knee  breeches  now  display. 

Waving  sunflower  and  lily, 
He  calls  all  the  houses  "  illy  " 

Decorated  and  designed. 
For  of  taste  they've  not  a  tittle  ; 
They  may  chew  and  they  may  whittle  ; 

But  they  are  all  born  colour  blind  !  " 

Wherever  he  went  in  the  States  he  created  a  sensation,  and  it 
was  gravely  asserted  that  he  had  been  induced  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
in  order  to  work  up  an  interest  in  Patience,  the  satire  of  that  opera 
not  having  been  sufficiently  understood  in  the  States  except  by 
rcwUng  people.  Such  an  idea  had  probably  never  entered  his  head; 
he  is  scarcely  the  man  to  condescend  to  become  an  advertising 
medium  for  a  play  which  professes  to  ridicule  nearly  everything  ho 
holds  sacred  in  art  and  poetry,  but  his  visit  did  certainly  havo  a 
most  beneficial  effect  upon  the  success  of  the  piece,  which,  beyond 
a  certain  point,  bad  created  little  interest  amongst  middle-class 
Americans,  whose  ideas  of  culture  are  only  awakened  by  an 
occasional  visit  to  Europe.  In  this  category  I  do  not,  of  course, 
include  the  Harvard  and  ltochestor  students,  whose  good  taste  and 
perfect  courtesy  have  all  the  refined  dignity  of  the  ancienne 
noblesse. 


120  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

Possibly  Mr.  Wilde  cares  little  for  the  laughter  of  these  people, 
provided  they  pay,  and  in  this  respect  his  lecture*  have  been 
thoroughly  successful,  for  crowded  audiences  have  everywhere 
attended  them — audiences  composed  of  the  most  fashionable  and 
distinguished  citizens  of  the  States,  and  if  they  have  not  quite 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  movement,  or  have  been  unable  to  fully 
appreciate  the  teachings  of  the  young  philosopher,  the  fault  is 
theirs,  and  not  Mr.  Oscar  Wilde's, 

Socially,  of  course,  he  was  treated  after  the  fashion  of  the  country 
where  Mrs.  Leo  Hunters  abound,  and  at  the  gatherings  he 
attended  the  young  lady  element  was  generally  in  the  ascendant ; 
young  men  being,  not  unnaturally,  somewhat  jealous  of  the  atten- 
tions shown  to  the  handsome  stranger,  round  about  whom  the 
rapturous  maidens  posed  and  sighed. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Wilde,"  said  one  of  these  fair  enthusiasts,  "  you  have 
been  adored  in  New  York,  but  in  Boston  you  will  be  worshipped." 

"  But  I  do  not  wish  to  be  worshipped,"  was  Mr.  Wilde's  sensible 
and  modest  reply. 

From  the  States  he  went  to  Canada,  visiting  Quebec,  Montreal, 
Ottawa,  Kingston,  and  Toronto ;  in  the  latter  city  he  was  present 
at  a  Lacrosse  match  between  the  Torontos  and  St  Regis  Indians, 
which  he  pronounced  a  charming  game,  quite  ahead  of  cricket  in 
some  respects.  His  lecture  in  the  Grand  Opera  House,  Toronto, 
was  attended  by  1,100  persons,  and  wherever  he  went  his  move- 
ments and  lectures  created  great  interest 

From  Canada  he  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  Halifax  Morning 
Herald,  of  October  10,  1882,  reports  his  lectures  on  "The  Decora- 
tive Arts,"  and  "The  House  Beautiful,"  it  also  contains  an  amusing 
account  of  an  interview  held  with  him  by  their  own  "  Interviewer," 
who  says  he  was  received  with  winning  and  polite  friendliness. 
"  The  apostle  had  no  lily,  nor  yet  a  sunflower.  He  wore  a  velvet 
jacket  which  seemed  to  be  a  good  jacket  He  had  an  ordinary  neck 
tie  and  wore  a  linen  collar  about  number  eighteen  on  a  neck  half 
a  dozen  sizes  smaller.  His  legs  were  in  trousers,  and  his  boots  were 
apparently  the  product  of  New  York  art,  judging  by  their  pointed 


MR.    OSCAR   WILDF. 


121 


toe^.  His  hair  is  the  color  of  straw,  slightly  leonine,  and  when  not 
looked  after,  goes  climbing  all  over  his  features]  Mr.  Wilde  was 
communicative  and  genial ;  he  said  he  fcund  Canada  pleasant,  but 
in  answer  to  a  question  as  to  whether  European  or  American  women 
were  the  more  beautiful  he  dexterously  evaded  his  querist : — "  That 
I  cannot  answer  here,  I  shall  wait  till  I  get  in  mid-ocean,  out  of 
sight  of  both  countries.  Your  women  are  pretty,  especially  in  the 
south,  but  the  prettiness  is  in  colour  and  freshness  and  bloom,  and 
most  of  your  ladies  will  not  be  pretty  in  ten  years." 

u  I  believe  you  discovered  Mrs.  Langtry  ?"  a  look  of  rapture  came 
to  Oscar's  face,  and  with  a  gesture,  the  first  of  the  interview,  ho 
said  : — "  I  would  rather  have  discovered  Mrs.  Langtry  than  have 
discovered  America.  Her  beauty  is  in  outline  perfectly  moulded. 
She  will  be  a  beauty  at  eighty-five.  Yes,  it  was  for  such  ladies 
that  Troy  was  destroyed,  and  well  might  Troy  be  destroyed  for  such 
a  woman."  The  remainder  of  the  conversation  was  devoted  to 
poetry  ;  he  expressed  his  opinion  that  Poe  was  the  greatest  American 
poet,  and  that  Walt  Whitman,  if  not  a  poet,  is  a  man  who  sounds 
a  strong  note,  perhaps  neither  prose  nor  poetry,  but  something  of 
his  own  that  is  grand,  original  and  unique.* 

After  leaving  Halifax,  Oscar  Wilde  went  to  lecture  in  several 
smaller  towns  in  Nova  Scotia,  amongst  'others  to  Moncton,  where 
his  experiences  were  of  a  somewhat  unpleasant  description,  owing 


*  The  Century,  for  November,  1882,  contains  an  exquisitely  hi 
by  Helen  Gray  Cone,  describing  an  imnginary  interview  between  Oscar  Wilde 
and  the  great  poetical  Egotist— Walt  Whitman.  The  style  and  diction  of  both 
are  admirably  hit  off,  better  perhaps  (because  easier  to  catch)  is  the  parody  of 
Whitman,  which  reads,  indeed,  like  an  excerpt  from  his  work*. 
The  poem  concludes  thus  : — 
Vancnsm  What  more  is  left  to  say  or  do  f 

Our  minds  have  met ;  our  hands  must  part. 
I  go  to  plant  in  pastures  new. 
The  love  of  Beauty  and  of  Art. 

Ill  shortly  start. 
One  town  is  rather  small  for  two 
Like nw and  you! 


122  THE  .tSTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

to  a  misunderstanding  he  had  with  a  ao-called  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  ;  it  arose  thus : — Two  committee  men  had 
been  negociating  to  secure  him.  The  Y.M.C.A.  committee  tele- 
graphed Mr.  Wilde's  agent,  offering  $75  for  a  lecture  on  Friday 
night.  Mr.  Husted  answered  that  teims  were  satisfactory  for 
Thursday  night  and  requested  a  reply.  This  was  about  4  p.m.  At 
about  8  p.m.,  four  hours  later,  the  Y.M.C.A.  committee  replied  that 
Thursday  night  was  satisfactory.  Mr.  Wilde  then  replied  in  effect : 
*:  Waited  till  7 ;  then  had  to  close  with  other  parties.  Sorry." 
Another  committee  of  townspeople  had  in  the  meantime  closed  with 
Mr.  Wilde.  Then  the  Y.M.C  A.  obtained  a  writ  which  was  served 
on  Mr.  WUde.  The  Y.M.C.A.  laid  damages  at  £200.  Mj.  Husted 
offered  to  give  them  $20  and  pay  costs.  This  was  not  accepted. 
Finally  Mr.  Estey  and  Mr.  Weldon  gave  bonds  for  8500  for  Mr. 
Wilde's  appearance.  The  action  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  people  is 
generally  condemned  in  the  colony,  both  by  the  very  pious,  who 
lift  up  their  eyes  and  hands  in  pious  horror  at  one  who  attempts  to 
raise  the  love  of  Art  and  Beauty  into  a  kind  of  religious  worship  ; 
and  by  the  ungodly,  who  see  that  the  Y.M.C. A.  merely  sought  to 
till  its  coffers  out  of  the  attiaction  of  this  Arch  Prophet,  irrespective 
of  his  teachings,  and  failing  in  that,  feed  their  revenge  by  attempts 
to  levy  black  inaiL 

It  is  probable  that  on  his  return  from  America  he  will  publish  an 
account  of  his  experiences ;  such  a  volume  could  not  fail  to  prove 
inteiesting,  as  he  has  visited  every  city,  has  seen  every  sight  of 
interest  or  importance,  and  has  been  received  and  entertained  by 
nearly  every  man  of  eminence  in  art  or  letters,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  interviews  he  has  had  with  the  roporters  of  nearly  every 
important  transatlantic  newspaper. 

In  his  highly  successful  lecture  on  "  Art  Decoration,"  Oscar 
Wilde,  after  deprecating  the  common  error  of  multiplying  designs 
by  machine  work,  as  in  wall  papers,  carpets,  &c,  reverts  to  the 
peculiarly  ugly  nature  of  men's  dress  as  at  present  worn,  advocating 
the  use  cf  flowing  robes  or  drapery,  and  brighter  colours  than  are 
in  fashion  now. 


\ 


MR.   OSCAR  WILDE.  123 

On  tho  not  unimportant  topic  of  dress  there  are  few  men  who 
would  deny  that  the  costume  they  wear  is  at  once  ugly  and  un- 
comfortable, but  they  would  sadly  urge  that  deference  to  usage  and 
conventionality  compels  them  to  retain  it 

Oscar  Wilde  defies  conventionality,  and  has  set  a  fashion  of  garb 
which  one  might  well  wish  to  be  universally  adopted.  Yet,  alas  ! 
what  suits  his  figure  might  not  in  all  its  details  be  adapted  for  tho 
every -day  wear  of  ordinary  mortals  of  less  heroic  proportions  and 
statuesque  form.  To  begin  with  the  hat ;  the  tall  hat  is  becoming 
to  few  countenances,  and  how  eager  we  all  are  to  exchange  it  for  a 
polo  cap  or  a  deer-stalker,  or  any  other  form  less  heavy,  more 
yielding  to  the  brow,  and  less  attractive  to  the  heat  of  the  sun. 
Tennyson  goes  about  in  a  wide-brimmed  felt  hat,  a  "swart 
sombrero  "  it  is  indeed — and  bears  a  cloak  almost  toga-like  in  its 
proportions. 

The  toga  might  be  hard  to  manage  on  a  windy  day,  but  knee- 
breeches  and  stockings,  or  tall  boots,  would  surely  be  more  sightly 
and  far  more  comfortable  than  the  loose  ends  of  trousers  flapping 
round  one's  ankles  and  catching  all  the  mud.  "Why  are  we  for  ever 
to  be  tied  up  in  black  frock  or  cutaway  coats,  a  velvet  or  cloth 
tunic  like  those  worn  by  the  converted  dragoons  in  Patience  would 
be  far  more  comfortable,  and  more  comely. 

But,  indeed,  we  well  know  what  is  the  more  comfortable  ;  it  is 
the  garb  that  most  men  assume  when  out  for  pleasure,  one  that 
interferes  least  with  the  actions  and  movements  of  the  body  ;  and 
somewhat  modified  as  to  colour  and  tejeture,  there  is  no  good  reason 
why  men  should  not  adopt  a  similar  costume  for  their  daily 
avocations  to  what  they  now  wear  when  boating,  riding,  or 
bicycling.  The  gain  in  comfort,  appearance,  and  economy,  would 
be  great  indeed. 

Mr.  Wilde's  exertions  in  this  direction  are  certainly  praiseworthy, 
and  if  he  can  succeed  in  banishing  tall  hats,  black  frock  coats, 
stand-up  collars  and  loose  trousers,  the  world  will  owe  him  a  vast 
debt  of  gratitude. 

In  this  matter  he  is  not  alone,  for  of  late  many  people  havo  been 


124  THE    ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

raising  an  outcry  in  favour  of  rationalism  in  dress,  both  for 
and  women,  and  Mr.  J.  Alfred  Gotch,  in  his  pamphlet  styled  "  Art 
in  Costume "  (published  by  Kegan,  Paul  and  Co.,  London)  has 
most  effectively  backed  up  Oscar  Wilde's  views  in  favour  of  soft 
low-crowned  hats,  jackets,  knee  breeches,  and  stockings,  either  with 
or  without  high  boots,  according  to  the  season. 

Mr.  Gotch  pleads  for  the  sake  of  comfort,  utility  and  economy, 
Mr.  Wilde  for  the  sake  of  Beauty.  It  rarely  happens  that  such 
various  attributes  can  be  so  surely  reconciled  and  brought  together 
as  in  this  agitation  for  a  reform  in  Diess. 

Mr.  O.  Wilde  is  a  brilliant  conversationalist,  a  happy  one  too  in 
many  senses,  for  he  can  listen  as  well  as  he  can  talk,  and  he  can 
talk  so  that  listening  to  his  conversation,  even  to  the  garrulous, 
becomes  more  pleasant  than  to  listen  to  their  own. 

He  speaks  enthusiastically  about  the  reception  accorded  to  him  in 
the  States,  where  he  was  entertained  by  poets,  such  as  Longfellow 
and  Wendell  Holmes,  where  his  lectures  were  crowded,  his  photo- 
graphs sold  in  enormous  numbers,  and  crowds  were  in  waiting  even 
at  small  roadside  stations  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  him.  He  found  that 
the  masses  on  the  American  continent  were  much  better  educated 
than  they  are   in  England. 

Several  sketches  of  Mr.  Wilde  have  ap}>eared  in  the  American 
journals,  one,  especially  good,  with  critical  notes  on  the  poems,  was 
given  in  The  Salt  Lake  Journal. 

It  is  said  that  shortly  after  his  return  to  London,  Mr.  Wilde 
intends  to  set  out  for  a  trip  to  Japan,  with  a  view  to  studying  art 
as  it  exists  in  that  singular  country,  art  indeed  to  which  much  that 
is  really  ^Esthetic  has  been  frequently  compared — we  shall  know 
ou  his  return  with  how  much  justice  and  accuracy. 

Botticelli  and  £.  Burne- Jones,  Oxford  and  Japan,  Romeo  awl 
Juliet  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre  and  Patience  at  the  Savoy,  Wagner 
and  Sullivan,  Swinburne  and  Oscar  Wilde;  how  widely  asunder  do 
these  all  sound,  how  dissir  \ilar  their  attributes,  yet  each  and  all  in 
a  manner  aggregate  to  form  the  .Esthetic  school,  and  have  helped  it 
to  the  position  it  holds  at  present,  high  in  the  estimation  of  all  true 
lovers  of  the  ideal,  the  passionate,  and  the  beautiful. 


Mi 

gv^ 

71  FGJflE  FOR  THE  TE^PETE^. 


YE    HAUNTED     HOUSE. 
By  Ratmund  H.  Phillimorr.) 

I  knows  a  house  at  Turnliam  Green*, 

Fayre  Syr,  I  knowe  yt  well ; 
Yt  ys  a  house  where  men  rejoyce, 

And  fyerie  spyrrytes  dwell ; 
A  tram  peter  hee  swings  wythont, 

Hys  name  I  cannot  tell. 

"  Who  lyeth  there  ?  '*     Thou  ask'st  mee  that  I 

Ye  Parsonne  ?    Saye  not  soe  ; 
Hee  loreth  not  ye  honse  I  mean 

To  yt  hee  wyll  not  goe  ; 
For  holie  men  they  hannt  yt  not, 

And  soe  I  answere  "  Xoe." 

Ye  spyrrytes  dwellynge  there  are  goode, 

Yet  leade  they  some  to  synne  ; 
Thou  ask'st  theyre  names?     1  tell  thee  true  ; 

They  call  them  Brandie,  Gynne  ; 
Fayre  Syr,  yt  ys  a  ryghte  goode  house, 

Yt  ys  ye  **  Tabarde  "  Inne. 


Turnham  Greene, 

Ye  Fyrst  daye  of  Maye, 

MDCCCLXXXII. 


!OUR  book  on  tho  ^Esthetic  School  will  never  be 
complete  without  a  description  of  the  Bedford  Park 
Estate,"  said  a  friend  to  me ;  so  I  took  train  from 
the  Mansion  House  station,  and  in  lt*s  than  half 
an  hour  was  landed  on  the  sunny  platform  of  the 
Turnham  Green  and  Bedford  Park  station. 


126  THE  ^ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

As  it  was  just  about  lunch  time,  I  made'  at  once  for  The  Tabard, 
a  noted  hostelry,  which  had  been  recommended  to  mj  notice  by 
the  aforesaid  friend,  whose  interest  in  the  ./Esthetic  movement  is 
"  intense,"  and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  information  about 
it 

Well,  I  easily  found  The  Tabard,  for  it  is  only  about  two 
minutes'  walk  from  the  station ;  outside,  it  is  true,  there  was 
nothing  to  indicate  that  it  was  a  tavern  except  a  very  handsomely- 
painted  signboard,  representing  on  one  side  a  Court  Herald  wearing 
an  embroidered  Tnhan.1  (that  is  a  short  coat  such  as  knights  used 
to  wear  over  their  armour,  with  their  arms  emblazoned  on  it),  and 
on  the  other  an  old-fashioned  inn,  having  also  the  Tabard  for  a 
sign.  In  other  respects  the  house  was  similar  in  general  appearance 
to  most  of  those  around,  built  of  bright  red  brick  in  the  Queen 
Anne  style,  that 

"  Age  of  Lustre  and  of  Link 
Of  Chelsea  china  and  long  S'ea, 
Of  Bagwigs  and  of  flowered  Dresses— 
That  age  of  Folly  and  of  Cards, 
Of  Hackney  Chairs  and  Hackney  Bards." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  wood  work,  square  windows  with 
small  panes  of  coloured  glass,  and  a  general  air  of  warmth  and 
old  English  comfort  about  it 

Lunch  finished,  I  rambled  about  the  rooms  of  The  Tabanl. 
Everything  was  quite  in  keeping  with  its  exterior  style — wall- 
papers, carpets,  carved  work,  tiled  fireplaces,  all  of  the  early 
English  and  most  pronounced  ^Esthetic  type,  and  to  my  mind 
thoroughly  tasteful  in  their  soft,  subdued  colours  and  quaint  old- 
fashioned  look. 

Even  its  name  has  an  antique  sound,  for  was  it  not  from  the 
TaUtrd  /mm,  in  the  Borough,  that  Chaucer's  pilgrims  started  on 
their  memorable  journey  to  Canterbury  five  hundred  years  ago  ? 
Whilst  examining  the  large  room  over  the  bar  I  was  joined  by  the 
manager,  Mr.  Lemberger,  who  courteously  directed  my  attention 
to  many  points  of  interest     Amongst  other  things,  I  had  a  close 


A  HOME  FOR  THE  .ESTHETES.  127 

view  of  tho  signboard,  which  is  a  veritable  work  of  art.  It  was 
painted  by  Mr.  Rooke,  A.R.A.,  at  a  cost,  as  I  was  told,  of  100 
guineas  ;  it  certainly  appears  too  handsome  and  too  highly  finished 
to  be  exposed,  as  it  is,  to  all  weathers. 

It  seems  that  glass  would  be  no  protection  to  it,  but  that  about 
every  three  months  it  is  varnished  with  some  preservative  solution  ; 
and  certainly  its  colours  do  not  appear  as  yet  to  have  lost  any  of 
their  original  brilliancy. 

Even  in  the  public  bar  the  old  style  is  imitated,  the  walls  being 
of  sober  colour,  relieved  by  painted  tiles,  and  everywhere  there  is 
an  absence  of  the  garish  glitter  and  the  sham  splendour  of  the 
modern  gin-palace.  Whether  the  ordinary  frequenter  of  a  tavern 
bar  appreciates  these  artistic  refinements  is  a  question  we  need  not 
now  consider ;  but  as  the  gorgeous  fittings  of  a  public-house  have 
to  be  paid  for  by  the  customers  in  the  long  run,  they  would  be  wise 
to  seek  a  quiet-looking  house  if  they  would  have  pure  unadulterated 
beverages. 

But  at  Bedford  Park  there  is  not  much  choice  in  the  matter,  for 
the  Tabard  appears  to  be  the  only  inn  on  the  estate ;  next  door  to  it 
are  the  Stores  amply  supplied  with  every  domestic  necessity,  opposite 
is  the  Church,  and  a  little  way  up  the  street  is  the  Art  School,  all  of 
Which  are  built  and  furnished  on  the  same  general  principles.  But 
the  Club  is  undoubtedly  the  most  attractive  feature  at  Bedford 
Park. 

The  exterior  of  the  building  is  so  plain  and  simple  that  it  might 
easily  be  taken  for  a  gentleman's  residence.  Inside  I  found  com- 
fort and  elegance,  without  ostentation ;  books,  Howers,  and  pictures, 
china  and  glass  ornament*  were  scattered  about,  and  a  general  air 
of  cosiness  and  warmth  j»ervadod  the  rooms  ;  whilst —  through  the 
open  casements — views  of  the  sunlit  lawn,  the  hawthorn  trees  in 
full  bloom,  golden  laburnum  and  sweetly-scented  lilac  could  be 
seen,  and  the  gentle  splashing  of  a  fountain  only  served  to  mske 
the  delicious  quiet  and  repose  of  the  surroundings  more  apparent  ; 
of  some  such  dwelling  it  must  have  been  that  Thomson  sang  : — 


128  THE  AESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN  ENGLAND. 

"  Wu  nought  around  but  images  of  rest : 
Sleep-soothing  groves,  and  quiet  lawns  between ; 
And  flowery  beda  that  alumbroua  influence  kest, 
From  poppies  breath  'd  ;  and  beds  of  pleasant  green. 
Where  never  yet  waa  creeping  creature  seen. 
Meantime,  unnutnber'd  glittering  stresmlets  play  M, 
And  hurled  everywhere  their  waters  sheen  ; 
That,  as  they  bicker'd  through  the  sunny  glade, 
Though  restless  still  themselves,  a  lulling  murmur  mads. 

A  pleasing  land  of  drowsy  head  it  was, 
Of  dreams  that  wave  before  the  half-shut  eye  ; 
And  of  gay  castles  in  the  clouds  that  pass, 
For  ever  flushing  round  a  summer  sky. 
There  eke  the  soft  delights,  that  witchingly 
Instil  a  wanton  sweetness  through  the  breast, 
And  the  calm  pleasures  always  hover'd  nigh  ; 
Rut  whate'er  smack'd  of  noyance,  or  unrest, 
Was  far,  far  otf  axpell'd  from  this  delicious  nest.** 

But  I  am  getting  discursive. 

From  an  attendant  I  obtained  a  list  of  the  rules  of  the  club, 
which  told  me  that  it  was  formed  as  a  means  of  affording  social 
intercourse  for  the  residents  of  the  Bedford  Park  Estate,  and  their 
friends. 

The  club  contains  billiard,  reading  and  card  rooms,  and  the 
prettiest  of  all  possible  ladies'  drawing-rooms.  All  the  principal 
newspapers  and  magazines  are  taken  in,  there  is  a  small  library,  and 
new  books  are  constantly  supplied  by  the  Grosvenor  Gallery 
LibrarfT 

The  internal  decorations  of  the  club  are,  of  course,  in  the  Early 
English  style,  and  indeed  much  of  the  furniture  is  truly  antique, 
the  book -shelves  and  settees  being  of  finely  carved  oak  of  the  17th 
century ;  whilst  other  pieces  are  of  the  dark  perforated  carved  work 
formerly  made  in  India. 

The  large  hall  is  beautifully  decorated  ;  the  old  panels,  with 
classical  subjects  worked  in  gold  on  ebony,  which  fill  the  wall  space 
over  the  mantelboard,  are  especially  noticeable.  It  is  in  this  hall 
that  the  theatrical  entertainments  take  place,  for  which  a  small  neat 


A  HOME  FOR  THE  ^ESTHETES.  129 

Btage  is  fitted  up.  Concerts,  lectures,  and  other  amusements  are 
frequently  given,  also  fancy  dress  balls,  in  which,  it  is  said,  the 
costumes  show  much  taste  and  variety,  the  artistic  inhabitants  having 
here  an  opportunity  to  display  their  skill  in  design  and  colour. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  inducements  held  out  to  residents  to  join 
the  club,  at  the  enormous  annual  outlay  of  two  guineas,  (half  a 
guinea  only  in  the  case  of  a  lady) ;  then  there  arc  concerts  in  the 
large  room,  monthly  dinners,  dances  and  dramatic  performances. 

Outside  the  club  there  is  a  lawn  tennis  ground,  pleasantly 
shaded  by  handsome  trees,  it  adjoins  and  overlooks  the  beautiful 
gardens  belonging  to  the  Tower  House,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Carr, 
the  proprietor  of  the  estate. 

The  little  colony  of  Bedford  Park  had  no  existence,  even  in  the 
imagination  of  its  enthusiastic  proprietor,  until  within  the  last  six 
or  seven  years,  before  which  time  the  site  selected  by  Mr.  Carr  for 
his  experiment  did  not  differ  from  the  surrounding  country. 

The  monotony  of  a  continuous  prospect  of  fields  and  orchards, 
was  being  gradually  invaded  and  encroached  upon  by  long  dreary 
rows  of  brick  and  stucco  houses  of  the  Pimlico  type,  so  dear  to  the 
speculative  builder,  who  can  build  street  upon  street  in  this  type 
without  any  exercise  of  his  ingenuity,  except  as  to  how  best  1o 
utilize  his  old  materials,  rejected  bricks,  mortar  destitute  of  binding 
power,  doors  that  refuse  to  open,  and  windows  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  shut ;  roofs  which  let  in  the  water,  and  drains  which  will 
not  carry  it  away  ;  deep  dismal  basements,  meant  only  for  the 
home  of  the  beetle  and  cockroach,  and  huge  flights  of  pretentious 
stone  stops  for  people  to  slip  down  in  frosty  weather,  and  for  poor 
servants  to  kneel  at  for  honrs  to  white  stone  over.  Rut  here,  at 
Bedford  Park,  a  good  fairy  seems  to  have  been  at  work,  and  the 
Tiew  from  the  railway  is  brightened  by  an  oasis  amidst  the  sur- 
rounding desert  of  stereotyped  suburban  settlements. 

This  result  is  due  to  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Carr,  who 
originated  the  idea,  in  which  he  has  been  ably  assisted  by  his 
architect,  Mr.  R.  Norman  Shaw,  and  although  for  a  time  the 
scheme  was  laughed  at  as  Utopian  and  absurd,  it  has  long  since 

I 


130  THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IX    EXGLAXD. 

passed  into  the  stage  of  a  recognized  success,  and  fast  as  the  houses 
are  being  built,  the  demand  is  ahead  of  the  supply. 

Whilst  admitting  the  credit  due  to  Mr.  Carr  for  the  initiative  he 
has  taken  in  the  matter,  it  must  be  conceded  that  he  started  with 
several  elements  of  success  in  his  favour. 

First  of  all  was  the  undoubted  revival  in  artistic  taste  which  has 
been  making  its  way  amongst  the  well-to-do  middle  class  of  English 
people  since  the  Exhibition  of  1851 ;  next  came  the  important  fact 
that  Mr.  Carr  was  the  possessor  of  a  plot  of  land  admirably  adapted 
by  nature  for  such  a  retreat  as  he  has  turned  it  into,  and  of  all  its 
natural  beauties  he  has  taken  the  fullest  advantage,  the  wide 
avenues  being  lined  with  some  of  the  finest  old  trees  to  be  found 
near  London. 

Again,  whilst  being  sufficiently  removed  from  the  noise,  smoke, 
and  bustle  of  London,  it  is  not  so  far  distant  as  to  prevent  City 
men  from  making  it  their  home,  or  ladies  from  taking  those 
pie  isant  but  costly  journeys  to  town,  known  to  husbands  as  M  going 
shopping."  And  for  all  these  journeys,  whether  for  business  or 
pleasure,  every  facility  of  conveyance  is  near  at  hand. 

So  taking  all  these  natural  advantages  into  consideration,  Mr. 
Carr  determined  that  the  architecture  and  arrangements  of  the 
colony  should  be  in  keeping  with  its  surroundings,  and  in  harmony 
with  the  artistic  taste  of  the  period. 

To  have  built  only  a  few  houses  in  the  exceptional  style  he  had 
planned  out  would  have  been  costly  beyond  all  possibility  of  re- 
munerative return,  but  by  laying  out  the  buildings  in  groups  of 
detached  and  semi-detached  houses  somewhat  similar  in  their 
main  features,  but  exceedingly  varied  in  matters  of  detail,  the 
objection  of  excessive  expense  was  removed,  and  the  houses,  with 
all  their  advantages,  are  let  at  rents  no  higher  than  those  of  the 
dreary  roads  and  streets  of  Pimlico,  or  Camden-town. 

One  great  charm  of  the  idea  is,  that  no  two  houses  are  exactly 
alike,  and  tin;  picturesque  aspect  of  the  whole  makes  one  marvel 
that  the  idea  is  so  novel,  especially  when  the  feeling  will  keep 
rising  in  one's  mind,  that  it  is  a  little  piece  of  an  old  English  town 


A  HOME  FOR  THE  JSTHETES.  131 

which  has  somehow  or  another  escaped  the  ravages  of  time,  to  show 
ns  how  much  more  sensible  our  ancestors  were,  in  some  respects, 
than  we  who  live  in  this  much-vaunted  nineteenth  century. 

This  illusion  is  made  all  the  more  perfect  from  the  pains  that 
have  been  taken  not  to  spoil  the  rural  appearance  of  the  estate — 
not  a  tree  has  been  needlessly  cut  down  ;  each  house  is  sheltered, 
many  are  perfectly  embowered  in  jasmine,  laburnum,  and  haw- 
thorn, and  the  aspect  of  the  avenues,  on  a  sunny  day,  is  full  of  such 
old-world  repose,  colour  and  sweetness  as  even  Tennyson  could 
describe,  or  Ruskin  could  desire.  ' 

Healthy  air,  a  gravel  soil,  the  river  near  enough  for  those  who 
love  boating,  charming  walks  around,  Kew  Gardens  only'  distant 
by  a  ten  minutes  ride  by  rail,  and  the  great  world  of  London  but 
half  an  hour  away.  And  yet  what  need  to  wander  away ;  are 
there  not  the  club  and  the  theatre,  the  church  and  the  T<i1>ard1 
Even  shopping  can  be  done,  and  comfortably,  too,  on  the  estate, 
for  at  the  Stores  nearly  every  requisite  of  civilized  life  can  be 
obtained,  and  for  all  practical  purposes  Bedford  Park  is  a  little 
world  in  itself.  As  one  wanders  along  the  avenues,  under  the 
gently  rustling  trees,  the  sunlight  wavers  and  flickers  on  the  red 
brick  fronts  of  the  houses  ;  many  of  the  doors  are  open,  and  the 
neat  halls  are  visible  with  their  clean  cool  Indian  matting,  square 
old-fashioned  brass  lamps  ;  comfort  and  elegance  everywhere,  light- 
ness and  grace  abound.  Even  the  names  on  the  door-posts  have  a 
touch  of  poetry  and  quaintness  about  them  : — Pleasaunce,  Elm  dene, 
Kirk  Lees,  Ye  Denne,  for  example. 

Nearly  every  house  has  also  a  balcony,  not  the  ordinary  kind  of 
iron  abomination  jutting  out  like  a  huge  wart  on  the  face  of  the 
bouse,  and  dangerous  even  for  children  to  stand  upon,  but  a  good 
sized  square  comfortable  arrangement,  generally  forming  the  roof  of 
some  out-building,  surrounded  with  a  low  parapet,  and  affording  a 
pleasant  view  of  the  trees  and  gardens  around — the  place  of  all 
others  to  sit  in  the  hot  summer  evenings,  to  smoke  a  cigar,  and 
play  a  quiet  game  of  chess.  How  Thackeray,  with  his  love  for  the 
Queen  Anne  style,  would  have  delighted  in  the  view  to  be  obtained 

K2 


132  THE  .ESTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IK  ENGLAND. 

from  any  of  these  balconies;  what  a  "  Kound-about  Paper"  he 
would  have  written  on  the  reminiscences  it  called  up  of  Addison, 
Steele,  and  Tlie  Sjxctator. 

The  great  charm  about  the  estate  is  the  absence  of  conventionality ; 
there  is  none  of  the  usual  dull  monotony  about  the  exterior  of  the 
houses,  the  roads  wind  about  without  any  apparent  desire  to  lead 
anywhere  in  particular,  or  of  having  any  intention  of  returning 
when  they  get  there.  /They  are  sheltered  by  pleasant  trees,  and 
are  not  bordered  by  dismal  iows  of  cast  iron  railings  all  moulded 
on  the  same  pattern.  Low  wooden  fences  mark  the  boundaries  of 
the  gardens,  and  allow  one  to  see  over  and  admire  the  trim  parterres 
full  of  Nature's  brightest  jewellery.  Wood,  brick,  or  stone  show 
for  what  they  are,  and  do  not  make  absurd  and  ineffectual  attempts 
to  look  like  ebony,  or  marble,  or  terra  cotta.  There  is  no  stucco, 
no  gilt,  no  affectation,  no  monotony  ;  but  there  is  comfort,  cleanli- 
ness, taste,  green  trees,  aud  plenty  of  fresh  air.  / 

Tower  House  stands  at  the  corner  of  two  charming  avenues,  and 
whilst  one  of  the  largest  residences  on  the  estate,  is  far  more  notice- 
able for  the  beauty  of  its  internal  fittings  and  furniture,  than  for  its 
external  appearance,  which  is,  in  front  at  least,  somewhat  more 
simple  than  its  neighbours,  but  the  garden  face  and  the  grounds 
themselves  are  very  pretty. 

Availing  myself  of  the  courteous  invitation  of  Mrs.  Carr  to  look 
over  her  house,  I  was  delighted  with  the  exquisite  taste  displayed 
in  it.  The  hall,  dining-room,  and  drawing-room,  all  on  the  entrance 
floor,  are  large  and  well  lit,  whilst  the  staircase  with  its  wide  stairs 
and  massive  banisters  remind  one  of  the  old-fashioned  manor  halls 
still  to  be  found  on  quiet  couniry  estates.  The  pievailing  colours 
used  in  the  decorations  are  soft  neutial  tints,  nothing  brilliant  or 
startling  being  seen.  The  projecting  windows  are  fitted  with  large 
square  casements,  comfortable  window  seats  and  cushions.  The 
walls  of  the  dining-room  are  panelled  with  fine  old  carved  oak, 
most  of  which  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Carr  from  the  fittings  of  an 
old  City  church,  St  Dionysius  Backchurch,  an  edifice  which  even 
the  fame  of  its  architect,  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  could  not  save 


A   nOME  FOR  THE  .ESTHETES.  133 

from  destruction  when  its  site  was  required  for  modern  street  improve- 
ments. 

In  both  the  dining  and  drawing-rooms  the  floors  are  of  polished 
wood,  not  covered  with  regularly  fitting  carpets  complete,  but  with 
Persian  or  Turkey  rugs  of  various  sues  and  shapes  ;  in  the  drawing- 
room  the  walls  are  hung  round  with  some  fine  pieces  of  very  old 
tapestry  brought  by  Mr.  Carr  from  Spain,  and  very  valuable  paint- 
ings ;  then  b;>oks,  flowers,  and  pottery  form  an  eneemMc  which 
it  would  indeed  be  hard  to  match  fur  beauty  and  originality. 

In  this  style  of  old  English  furniture,  wall  hangings  should  be 
largely  used,  curtaius  employed  in  place  of  folding  doors,  and  the 
jwnels  of  halls  and  staircases  covered  with  Indian  or  other  matting 
easily  removed  and  cleansed.  For  dining  and  drawing-rooms, 
tapestry  hangings  might  be  used  were  it  not  for  the  extreme  costli- 
ness of  that  material. 

In  the  internal  decorations  of  a  new  house  an  incoming  tenant  at 
liedford  Park  has  much  liberty  of  selection ;  the  majority  of  the 
residents  have  chosen  from  the  wall-papcra  and  designs  furnished  by 
Mr.  "William  Morris,  whose  establishment  at  Bloomsbury  is  exten- 
sive enough  to  supply  new  and  varied  patterns  without  any  fear  ol 
8amcucss  or  monotony  in  jutssing  from  one.  house  in  the  estate  to 
another.  Besides,  the  changes  can  so  easily  be  rung  when  there  aic 
dado  papers,  tiles,  or  matting,  wall-papers,  distemper,  hangings  and 
tapestry  to  select  from,  that  the  danger  of  monotony  in  this  new 
style  of  decoration  is  avoided. 

Whilst  on  the  subject  of  the  beauty  of  houses,  I  am  tempted  to 
quote  a  few  paragraphs  from  an  interesting  paper  by  E.  Randolph, 
which  appeared  in  The  Buruwjton  for  last  April,  describing  the 
decadence  of  modern  domestic  architecture. 

•«  It  is  doubtful  whether  utilitarian  ugliness  pure  and  simple,  was  ever  so 
characteristic  of  sny  race  as  it  was  of  our  immediate  forefathers. 

"  We  were  not  slwsys  an  ugly  people.  Medieval  England  was  beautiful  j 
Elizabethan  splendid  ;  Jacobean  quaint  and  picturesque  ;  a  refined  elegance 
marks  the  modified  Dutch  of  Qoeen  Anne. 

••  With  the  Georges,  however,  came  decadence,  which  is  plainly  traceable  to 
Use  influence  of  the  Court  t  a  heavy  animation,  a  plain  obtrusive  uglineaa,  for 


134  THE  ^ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IN    ENGLAND. 

which  the  best  word  it*  defenders  had  was  *  sensible,'  prevailed  throughout 
the  land. 

"  What  were  the  minds  of  those  men,  for  example,  who  designed  and  built 
Gower  Street  ? 

"  It  is  true  the  Londoner  has  always  looked,  until  latterly,  to  the  inside,  not 
to  the  outside  of  his  house  ;  but  beauty  of  any  sort  at  this  period  was  a  rarity 
indeed,  and  as  a  rule  internals  and  externals  were  quite  on  a  par. 

44  All  colour  was  voted  vulgar.  In  the  better  puts  of  London  red  brick,  the 
most  useful  and  most  effective  of  material,  was  debarred  by  law.  Art  may  be 
said  to  have  languished  under  a  penal  code,  and  universal  ugliness  reigned 
supreme  with  free  fell  scope.  It  had  its  day,  and  a  long  day  it  was  ;  but  the 
reaction  came  at  last.  Again  the  court  was  splendid,  wasteful,  extravagant. 
Decorative  art  blazed  out  in  all  the  shabby  ostentation  of  the  Regency,  which 
points  to  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton  as  its  proudest  monument.  A  style  of 
prismatic  lustre,  stiff  cut  glass,  mirrors,  false  stones,  cheap  gilding,  barbaric 
colour  and  outrageous  curve  of  vast  facades  in  lath  and  plaster  ;  it  was  a  verit- 
able apotheosis  of  stucco,  a  pageant  and  triumph  of  sham  ! 

4,After  this  pyrotechnic  display,  art  in  this  country  sank  down  into  its  ashes, 
and  for  a  time  expired  altogether.  With  art  ecclesiastical  we  are  not  concerned 
at  present,  but  during  the  reigns  of  the  four  Georges  it  may  be  said  to  have 
been  nil,  as  the  few  and  melancholy  restorations,  and  still  fewer  and  more 
uieLncholy  erections  of  that  period  sufficiently  prove." 

One  of  the  most  imposing- looking  buildings  on  the  estate  is  the 
Chiswick  School  of  Art,  a  red  brick  house,  with  quaint  gables,  and 
projecting  windows  full  of  small  panes  of  glass.  A  large  porch, 
with  handsome  doors  glazed  with  coloured  glass,  opens  into  the  hall, 
right  and  left  of  which  are  two  tine  class-rooms,  over  these  again 
are  two,  still  larger.  In  one  room  when  I  entered,  the  pupils  were 
drawing  from  models;  in  another  they  were  painting,  and  one 
young  lady  was  just  putting  the  finishing  touches  to  a  very  life-like 
representation  of  that  aesthetic  favorite,  that  bright  emblem  of  con- 
stancy— the  brilliant  sunflower. 

I  noticed,  too,  that  in  many  instances  the  young  ladies  were 
decidedly  of  the  aesthetic  type,  both  as  to  the  mode  of  dress,  and 
fashion  of  arranging  their  hair. 

The  building  seems  admirably  designed  for  its  purposes,  the 
rooms  being  lofty  and  well  lit;  and  in  its  decorations  and 
artistic  appliances,  there  appears  to  be  every  incentive  to  the  art 
student  to  learn  to  love  the  beautiful,  and  to  realise  the  ideal. 


A   HOME  FUR  THE  ESTHETES.  135 

This  building  was  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Maurice  B.  Adams, 
A. K.I.  It.  A.,  who  is  also  lion,  secretary  of  the  School  of  Art,  which 
is  in  connection  with  the  Science  and  Art  Department.  South  Ken- 
sington ;  there  arc  on  the  Committee  the  names  of  some  of  the 
most  influential  residents  in  Bedford  Tark,  and  the  classes  are  even 
now  largely  attended,  although  the  school  has  not  long  been  in 
operation. 

The  fees  are  very  moderate,  and  the  subjects  of  study  include 
freehand  drawing,  geometry  and  perspective,  architectural  and 
mechanical  drawing,  painting  in  oil  and  water  colours,  studies  from 
the  human  figure,  decorative  art,  as  applied  to  wall-papers,  fur- 
niture, metal-work,  stained  glass,  &c,  Ac. 

Art  needlework,  pottery,  tile  painting,  and  etching  will  also  be 
included  before  long. 

Numerous  scholars-hips  and  prizes  are  oj»en  to  the  art  students, 
so  that  there  is  no  lack  of  encouragement,  and  in  these  days, 
when  the  fine  arts  are  becoming  more  and  more  appreciated  and 
understood,  it  is  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  intellectual  advan- 
tages young  people  are  likely  to  derive  from  such  tuition,  or  the 
great  social  and  pecuniary  success  they  may  obtain. 

But  whilst  individuals  are  reaping  these  special  benefits,  how 
much  greater  will  be  the  national  gain  from  the  gradual  dissemina  - 
tion  of  the  canons  of  true  taste,  in  the  harmony  and  blending  of 
colours,  in  the  design  of  forms  for  various  purposes  possessing  not 
only  the  requisite  strength  and  solidity,  but  also  as  much  beauty  of 
form  as  is  consistent  with  the  material  and  the  other  requisites 
of  work  and  durability. 

Whilst  the  study  of  colours  has  had,  and  will  have,  a  groat  effect 
upon  clothing  and  furniture,  tliat  of  the  beauty  of  form  should  be 
particularly  commended  to  our  architects  and  engineers,  for  all 
foreign  critics,  whilst  admitting  the  strength  and  solidity  of  English 
buildings,  bridges,  and  machinery,  find  fault  with  their  heavy, 
sombre,  and  inelegant  appearance. 

William  Morris,  when  speaking  on  the  recent  improvement  in 
the  knowledge  of  art,  says  it  is  no  use  to  trust  to  the  rich  ami 
fashionable  for  a  revival  of  true  decorative  art.     They,  ho  eaya— 


I  Mi 


THE  .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 


••  have  do  chance  of  spending  time  enough  over  the  arte  to  know  anything 
practical  of  them,  and  they  must  of  necessity  be  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
can  spend  most  time  in  pushing  a  fashion  this  or  that  way  for  their  own 
advantage. 

"  There  is  no  help  to  be  got  out  of  these  latter,  or  those  who  let  themselves 
be  led  by  them  ;  the  only  real  help  for  the  decorative  [arts  must  come  from 
those  who  work  in  them  ;  nor  must  they  be  led ;  they  must  lead. 

"  You  whose  hands  make  those  things  that  should  be  works  of  art,  yon 
uiuat  be  all  artists,  and  good  artists,  before  the  public  at  large  can  take  real 
interest  in  such  thing*  ;  and  when  you  have  become  so,  I  promise  you  that 
you  shall  iead  the  fashion ;  fashion  shall  follow  your  hands  obediently 
enough.  | 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  of  sham  work  in  the  world,  hurtful  to  the  buyer, 
more  hurtful  to  the  seller,  if  he  only  knew  it,  most  hurtful  to  the  maker ; 
how  good  a  foundation  it  would  be  toward  getting  good  decorative  art— that 
is,  ornamental  workmanship — if  we  craftsmen  were  to  resolve  to  tifrn  out 
nothing  but  excellent  workmanship  iu  all  things,  instead  of  having,  as  we 
too  often  have  now,  a  very  low  average  standard  of  work,  which  we  often  fall 
below." 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  teaching  of  the  masters  of  the  new  scIiojL 
Kuskiu's  volumes  all  tend  in  the  same  direction.  Away  with  all 
shams  ;  study  pure  art  purely  for  art's  sake ;  avoid  false  gold  and 
pietcntious  glitter ;  adopt  a  simple  style  moulded  on  the  forms  and 
colours  of  nature. 


^:C0j\CfcUgI0N.*- 


THE  SEVEN  STAGES  OF  .ESTHETICISM. 

All  the  world's  (esthetic, 
And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  {esthetes  ; 
They  have  their  yearnings  and  their  ecstacies  ; 
And  each  man  in  his  time  plays  many  parts, 
His  acts  being  seven  stages.     First,  the  Philistine, 
Sneering  at  Art's  high  transcendental  charms ; 
And  next  the  clinging  Pupil,  with  his  lily 
And  elongated  chin,  gliding  like  snake 
To  study  in  the  school.     Then,  the  Acolyte, 
Sighing  like  furnace,  with  a  woeful  sonnet 
Wade  to  a  dado.     Then,  the  full-fledged  Poet, 
Full  of  strange  whims,  long-haired  as  Absalom, 
Jealous  of  fame,  profuse  of  attitude, 
Seeking  the  bubble  reputation 
E'en  at  the  tea-pot's  spout.     Then,  the  Professor, 
With  bilious  mien,  and  clot  las  not  wisely  cut, 
His  monologues  quite  too  idealised, 
Bursting  with  Culture,  and  the  Infinite  ; 
And  so  he  plays  his  part.     The  sixth  stage  shifts 
Into  the  lank  and  velvet-suited  Humbug, 
With  nippers  on  his  nose  and  tuft  on  chin  ; 
His  mystic  style,  well  saved,  a  world  too  wide 
For  his  shrunk  audience  ;  while  his  croaky  voice, 
Striving  again  to  rouse  to  rapture,  seems 
But  senseless  in  its  sound.     Last  scene  of  all, 
That  ends  this  strange  eventful  history, 
Is  atter  idiotcy  and  mere  oblivion. 
Sans  mind,  sans  taste,  sans  Art,  sans  everything. 


HE  worst  feature  of  the  present  age  is,  that  it  is  tho 
fashion  to  treat  nothing  seriously  but  folly,  to  sneer 
at  every  one  who  is  in  earnest,  no  matter  on  what 
topic,  and  a  silly  parody  like  the  above  will  often 
carry  more  conviction  than  would  a  serious  criticism 
invoking  some  little  thought  and  consideration. 


138  THE  iKSTHETIC  MOVEMENT  IN   ENGLAND. 

Much  of  the  merriment  id  forced,  and  few  of  the  jests  are 
original,  but  it  is  ao  much  easier  to  jeer  at  the  teachings  of  a  philo- 
sopher, than  to  understand  or  to  profit  by  them. 

In  France,  this  habit  of  trifling  with  all  serious  topics  has  already 
led  the  people  into  grievous  trouble,  and  in  England  it  is  gradually 
undermining  the  sober  solidity  of  the  national  character. 

Many  men  would  rather  stifle  their  enthusiasm  and  hide  their 
talents,  than  become  the  butt  of  the  silly  buffoons  who  have  the 
ear  of  the  public,  but  who  can  only  parody  and  distort  the  utter- 
ances of  the  poet,  or  the  philosopher. 

The  vitality  of  iEstheticisni  could  not  have  been  better  proved 
than  iu  its  power  to  survive  the  sarcasms  and  the  ridicule  to  which 
it  has  beeu  subjected  ever  since  it  first  came  into  notice,  flow 
small,  how  insignificant,  indeed,  the  names  now  appear  of  the  men 
identified  with  these  attacks,  as  compared  with  those  of  the  leaders 
of  yEstheticisin,  low  also  generally  acknowledged  as  our  chiefs  in 
painting  and  poetry,  the  dramatic  and  decorative  arts. 

And  these  have  chosen  three  emblem»,  not  fortuitously  nor  unthink- 
ingly, but  of  a  set  purpose  we  may  surely  suppose.  Purity,  Beauty, 
and  Constancy  :  are  they  not  adequately  expressed  to  the  mind's 
eye,  as  also  to  the  eyes  with  which  we  merely  see  externals,  in  the 
lily,  the  peacock,  and  the  sun-flower.  Cheap  derision  skims  but 
tire  surface,  and  finds  matter  for  a  sorry  sneer,  or  pitiful  jest,  in 
things  which  to  the  observant  and  the  thoughtful  are  pregnant  with 
deep  meaning  and  suggestive  pathos.  In  the  first  verse  of  his  first 
poem,  Dante  Kossetti  introduced  the  lily-purity : — 

44  The  blessed  damozel  leaned  out 

From  the  gold  bar  of  Heaven  ; 
Her  eyes  were  deeper  than  the  depth 

Of  waters  stilled  at  even  ; 
She  had  three  lilies  in  her  hand, 

And  the  stars  in  her  hair  were  seven." 

So  he,  too,  great  lover  of  the  beautiful,  found  a  world  of  glowing 
colour  in  the  feathers  of  that  bird,  which  our  forefathers  so  greatly 
prized  for  its  stately  grandeur,  and  its  lovely  plumage;  how 
gloriously,  too,  it  decks  the  background  of  many  a  grand  medieval 


CONCLUSION.  130 

landscape,  strutting  majestically  along  the  sunlit  avenues;  as,  indeed, 
it  does  in  some  of  the  modem  paintings  of  the  so-called  Pre- 
Baphaelite  artists,  notably  in  one  by  Arthur  Hughes,  his  sweetly- 
suggestive  "  Silver  and  Gold."  And  for  the  sun-flower  that  ever 
turns  its  glowing  face  towards  the  Lord  of  light  and  love,  hath  it 
not  perfection  of  form  and  colour  in  its  circles  of  black  and  gold 
to  recommend  it,  irrespective  of  its  poetical  Je  vous  suis  pjrtout 
character.  Deny  it  all  these  attributes,  it  is  still  worthy  of  a  better 
fate  than  to  be  derided  of  the  Philistines. 

Is  it  not  worshipped  by  the  Chinese,  most  utilitarian  of  people, 
and  well  does  it  merit  the  homage  they  render  it,  for  it  is  the  most 
useful  of  all  vegetables.  From  its  seeds  is  made  a  lubricant  oil, 
and  soap  unequalled  for  softening  the  skin.  Sunflower  oil  burns 
longer  than  any  other  vegetable  oil.  Sunflower  cake  is  more  fattening 
than  linseed  cake,  its  flowers  supply  the  best  bee  food,  and  its 
leaves  are  used  as  a  substitute  for  tobacco.  Its  stalk  yields  a  fine 
fibre  used  in  Chinese  silk,  and  the  best  yellow  dies  of  the  Chinese 
are  produced  from  its  flowers. 

It  has  occurred  to  some  ingenious  and  erudite  persons  that  it 
would  appear  very  learned,  and  witty,  to  compare  the  ^Esthetic 
School  of  Poetry  to  that  which  was  known,  about  eighty  years  ago, 
as  the  Delia  Cruscan  school. 

ttut  whereas  the  Delia  Cruscans  produced  no  poetry  which  has 
survived  even  till  now,  the  poems  of  Swinburne,  Morris,  and 
Rossetti,  will  last  as  long  as  our  language  is  read.  Again,  the 
Delia  Cruscans  had  not  enough  vitality  to  survive  the  one  bold 
vigorous  onslaught  of  Gilford  in  his  Bariad  and  Afaeviad,  but  were 
laughed  right  out  of  existence,  whereas  AZttheiicitm  which  has 
long  been  spitefully  abused  and  misrepresented,  is  to-day  in  all  its 
essentials,  more  vigorous  than  ever ;  its  poems  are  more  widely  read, 
its  dictates  in  all  matters  of  taste  are  more  generally  adopted,  and  I 
think  it  may  safely  be  predicted  that  the  poetry  of  the  ^Esthetic 
school  will  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  growth  typical  of  the 
later  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  the  Lake  School  of  Poetry 
was  of  the  earlier  portion. 


140  THE     .1M1IK1K     MlAKMKM    IN    KKCLANl). 

The  Lake  writers  have  outlived  the  scorn  of  their  contemporaries, 
and  in  the  same  way  people  will  live  to  see  how  much  there  is  of 
the  good,  the  beautiful,  and  the  true,  in  the  Esthetic  movement, 
and  to  recognize  the  beneficial  influence  it  has  had  upon  modern 
life  in  the  cultivation  of  good  taste  in  ait. 

In  the  Hut  limit  on  for  July  last,  there  appeared  an  able  paper, 
entitled  "A  Plea  for  ^Estbetkism  ;"  it  very  clearly  pointed  out  some 
of  the  benefits  we  have  derived  from  the  movement,  aud  the 
following  paragraphs  are  worthy  of  the  consideration  ol  those  even 
who  dislike  and  ridieulc  the  school : — 

"  I'uder  different  names  the  irregular  recurrence  of  an  aesthetic  movement 
— that  is  to  say,  the  aspiration  of  a  select  few  to  a  higher  culture  than  that  of 
the  many—  has  been  a  peculiar  feature  in  the  social  history  of  the  modern 
world. 

44  Most  people's  knowledge  of  the  Preeieuses  is  wholly  derived  from  lloliere'a 
two  plays,  in  which  they  cut  s>  ludicrous  a  figure  ;  but  to  regard  these  as 
pictures  of  the  society  of  the  Hotel  de  Kambouillet  is  about  as  logical  as  to 
accept  th.-  caricatures  of  Du  Maurier,  1  .unwind,  and  Gilbert,  as  faithful  repre- 
sentations of  the  asthetic  movement,  which,  indeed,  ninety-nine  people  out 
of  every  hundred  really  do.  As  a  matter  of  course,  ignorant  imitators  and 
silly  fanatics,  such  as  Moliere  lias  depicted,  identified  themselves  with  the 
movement,  and  provided  food  for  the  satirists,  who  did  not  care  to  weaken 
the  point  of  their  satire  by  discriminating  between  the  true  and  the  false 
apostles. 

**  From  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  to  that  of  Napoleon  111.  France  was  the 
model  to  Europe  in  the  polish  of  its  manners,  the  elegance  of  its  language,  and 
the  perfection  of  its  taste,  and  for  all  these  advantages  it  was  indebted  to  the 
Pre  jieuses.  Like  the  aesthetes  of  to-day,  they  brought  about  a  vast  reform  in 
the  aspect  of  their  domestication  ;  they  studied  elegance  of  form,  and  harmony 
of  colour  and  natural  beauty  in  decorations  ;  they  instituted  the  Academie, 
ind  they  taught  men  and  women  that  grace  of  manner  which,  once  upon  a 
time,  rendered  the  title  of  lady  or  gentleman  a  true  mark  of  distinction  that 
could  net  be  indiscriminately  applied. 

44  Vet  for  all  these  benefits  the  Precieuses  have  descended  to  prosperity  only 
as  certain  half-crazy  and  absurd  personages,  who  rendered  themselves  laughing 
stocks  in  their  day,  and  were  ultimately  extinguished  by  the  ridicule  ot 
common-sense  people.  It  will  be  much  the  same  with  the  aesthetes  ;  our 
great-grandsons  will  turn  over  the  leaves  of  antique  volumes  of  Punch,  and 
studeuts  of  old  dramatic  literature  will  peruse  The  Colonel  and  Patience,  and 
wonder  how  people  could  be  so  ridiculous,  utterly  ignoring  the  fact  that  the 


CONCLUSION.  141 

cultured  taste  which  appears  in  their  homes,  from  a  kitchen  utensil  to  a 
carpet  and  wall-paper  and  a  lady's  dress,  and  which  contrasts  so  marvellously 
with  the  barbaric  horrors  of  the  early  Victorian  era,  orer  which  he  has  laughs! 
in  other  antique  caricatures,  were  the  work  of  these  so-called  ridiculous  people 

"Indeed  the  inconsistencies  of  posterity  are  already  anticipated.  Mrs. 
Philistine  Jones  pays  a  visit  to  the  Savoy,  or  the  Prince  of  Wales's,  enjoys  the 
satire,  and  wonders  how  people  can  make  such  fools  of  themselves  as  to  be 
jesthetic.  Now  a  dozen  years  ago  Mrs.  Jones  would  have  appeared  at  the 
theatre  in  a  costume  hideous  in  form,  and  utterly  discordant  in  colour,  instead 
of  which  she  now  wears  a  dress  with,  at  least,  some  pretentions  to  artistic 
design  and  the  blending  of  harmonious  tints.  To  whom  is  she  indebted  for 
the  change  ?  Why,  to  *  the  focls,'  for  whom  she  expresses  such  disdain.  Mr. 
Philistine  Jones  dubs  all  the  aesthetes  idiots,  while  he  also  adopts  their  ideas. 
A  dozen  years  ago  his  dazzling  carpets  and  wall-papers  were  enough  to  give  a 
good  templar  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens ;  his  furniture  was  a  roughly  hewn 
mass  of  ponderous  mahogany  ;  Lis  walls  were  hung  with  abominations, 
encircled  in  tawdry  gilt  frames,  which  he  called  pictures ;  he  delighted  in 
waxen  fruit  under  glass  covers ;  his  crockery,  his  glass — in  fine,  everything  he 
possessed,  and  especially  what  he  admired— was  a  violation  of  good  taste. 
But  somehow  he  has  changed  all  this ;  the  human  eye  may  now  repose  upon 
the  neutral  tints  of  his  carpets  and  walls.  He  has  even  a  dado,  and  bine 
china  may  be  espied  in  nooks  and  comers  ;  he  has  eschewed  gilt,  and  his 
pictures  and  ornaments  no  longer  excite  in  you  iconoclastic  desires  ;  he  has 
ceased  to  care  for  stucco  ;  he  lives  in  a  Queen  Anne  house,  and  actually  has 
begun  to  think  something  about  the  shape  of  his  jags. 

•*  This  improvement  is  rapidly  spreading  through  all  classes  of  society — good 
taste  is  no  longer  an  expensive  luxury  to  indulge  in— the  commonest  articles 
of  domestic  use  are  now  fashioned  in  accordance  with  its  laws,  and  the  poorest 
may  have  within  their  homes  at  the  cost  of  a  few  pence,  cups  and  saucers  and 
jugs  and  teapots,  more  aiti.stic  in  form  and  design  than  were  to  be  found 
twenty  years  ago  in  any  homes  but  those  of  the  cultured  rich. 

"  And  to  whom  are  we  indebted  for  these  advantage*  ?  Why,  to  the 
..Esthetes,  the  fools  and  idiots  of  Philistine  phraseology." 

Those  persons  who  are  inclined  to  undervalue  the  labours  of  the 
so-called  ..-Esthetic  School  (a  term  I  have  employed  only  because  it 
is  generally  used,  and  not  because  I  think  it  either  correct,  or  ex- 
pressive), would  do  well  to  seriously  revise  iheir  judgment  u|>on 
what  lias  really  hecn  effected  by  those  belonging  to  the  higher 
range  of  yEstheticism. 

There  roust  be  some  good  in  a  theory,  or  system,  initiated  ami 


142  THE   .ESTHETIC   MOVEMENT   IN    ENGLAND. 

worked  out  by  men  of  such  eminence  in  art,  as  Holman  Hunt, 
E.  Hume-Jones,  and  Walter  Crane ;  in  art  and  poetry  combined,  as 
I).  G.  Rossetti,  Thomas  Woolner,  and  Morris ;  in  r oetry  and 
criticism  by  such  as  A  C.  Swinburne,  William  M.  Kossetti,  John 
Ruskin,  and  Oscar  Wilde.  But  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  that 
higher  <£stheticism  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  affected  and 
superficial  vKstheticism  which  has  been  forced  into  a  hot  house 
existence  by  caricaturists,  and  fostered  by  those  who  mistake 
artistic  slang,  and  stained-glass  attitudes,  for  culture  and  high  art. 
For  herein  lies  the  essence  of  it  all  : — Heal  culture  is  a  hardy  plant, 
it  will  thrive  where  it  has  once  taken  root ;  7**en<fcK/Estheticism 
may  for  a  time  be  confounded  with  it  by  those  who  have  learnt  all 
they  know  of  it  from  Punch  and  Patience*  but  assuredly  by  no 
others,  and  it  will  fade  away  as  rapidly  as  it  sprang  into  existence, 
with  aU  the  more  speed  now  that  as  a  theme  for  comic  writers  it 
is  nearly  exhausted. 

With  pure  ^Estheticism,  as  with  Pre-HaphaeUtism,  the  case  is 
altogether  different.  Here  we  have  something  tangible,  which  de- 
serves to  live  as  a  noble  outcome  of  modern  intellect  striving  to 
realise  a  lofty  ideal,  and  to  attain  that  beauty  in  Art  which  abounds 
in  Nature.  It  was  through  the  writings  of  Ruskin  that  thousands 
became  acquainted  with  the  works  of  those,  who,  seceding  from 
the  dreary  routine  of  the  conventional  art  schools,  determined  hence- 
forth to  follow  Nature  alone,  but  I  will  give  it  in  the  Master's  own 
language  : — 

"  Pre-Raphaelitism  has  bat  one  principle,  that  of  absolute  uncompromising 
truth  in  all  that  it  does,  obtained  by  working  everything,  down  to  the  moat 
minute  detail,  from  Nature  and  from  Nature  only  ;  or,  where  imagination 
ia  necessarily  trusted  to,  by  always  endeavouring  to  conceive  a  fact  as  it 
really  was  likely  to  have  happened,  rather  than  as  it  most  prettily  might 
have  happened.  Every  Pre-Raphaelite  landscape  back-ground  is  painted  to 
the  last  touch  in  the  open  air,  from  the  thing  itself.  Every  Pre-Raphaelite 
figure,  however  studied  in  expression,  is  a  true  portrait  of  some  living  person. 
Everv  minute  accessory  is  painted  in  the  same  manner ;  this  is  the  main 
Pre-Raphaelite  principle." 

Rossetti  suggested  the  name  of  the  P.R  brotherhood,  although,  of 


CONCLUSION.  143 

course,  the  principle  involved  had  existed  ages  before,  but  it  had 
fallen  into  disnsc,  and  art  was  nearly  suffocated  beneath  the 
restrictions  imposed  upon  it  by  the  schools,  and  the  professors,  who 
wished  to  reduce  it  to  a  mere  science. 

So  aiso  in  ^Estheticism  there  is  much  that  is  old,  as  old  indeed 
as  are  beauty  and  truth,  simplicity  and  grace;  and  as  Rusk  in 
deemed  it  necessary  thirty  years  ago  to  enter  a  protest  on  behalf 
of  the  Pre-Raphaelitcs,  to  show  how  their  aims  were  misunder- 
stood, and  their  genius  unappreciated,  so  I,  in  a  plain  homely 
way,  have  sought  to  point  out  the  good  there  is  in  the  modern 
artistic  revival,  known  as  the  ^Esthetic  movement  It  has  already 
wrought  much  in  the  improved  taste  shown  in  poetry  and  painting, 
in  dress,  furniture,  and  house  decoration ;  there  is  still  much  for 
it  to  achieve.  It  must  teach  us  to  avoid  the  weary  life-struggle 
that  we  wage  to  appear  richer  than  we  are,  and  to  live  up  to  means 
we  do  not  possess.  Let  us  not  wear  paste  if  we  cannot  afford 
diamonds,  and  if  gold  is  beyond  our  means,  let  us  be  too  proud 
to  indulge  in  gilt  sham.  Some  of  us,  Mr.  Punch  amongst  the 
number,  would  be  better  and  wiser  not  to  ridicule  intellectual 
aims  we  do  not  understand,  and  not  to  be  continually  airing  an 
acquaintance  we  do  nof  possess  with  dukes  and  duchesses. 

But  as  Thackeray,  the  greatest  of  Punch  writers,  himself  has  said, 
Para*it<>*  ejci*t  alwatf. 


o.  niii»i.nt  raiNTsa,  hloakr  no<  a«»,  a.w. 


0 


4^ 


■lilton,    Walter, 

The    aes  ;    move; 

in    England. 
3d    ed. 
Reeve  s 

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NX  Hamilton,  Walter 

543  The  aesthetic  movement  in 

H3  England 

1882a